


Harry Potter and the House of Malfoy

by pipisafoat



Series: Draco Takeover [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dumbledore Being a Dick, Gen, Heirs and Scions, Hufflepuff Neville Longbottom, Mentor Draco, Mentor Lucius, Pureblood Society, Ravenclaw Hermione Granger, Slytherin Harry, Slytherin Harry Potter, Slytherin Politics, formal society
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-24 01:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6137263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipisafoat/pseuds/pipisafoat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco made a different choice in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions before his first year at Hogwarts. He gained some friends, changed his family's allegiance, and changed the entire Second Voldemort War.</p><p>This story, as the others in Draco Takeover, stands alone and are only connected thematically. Point of divergence in Philosopher's Stone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harry Potter and the House of Malfoy

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my sister Pam, as usual, for the beta work and for championing this idea for the past year or more.
> 
> Content notes/warnings at bottom.

Draco hated getting sized for new clothing, but he'd been growing too much not to do so every few months lately. Growth charms on clothing were too easily spotted by those in their social circle, so Father had decreed that it was better to buy new tailored clothing as often as necessary.

Thankfully, he'd been able to bargain his way into getting growth charms for his everyday Hogwarts robes. His nicer robes, of course, would still be tailored - so he'd be back in the week before the Hogwarts Express left - but this was supposed to be a relatively quiet day in Diagon Alley. He was standing on a stool for Madam Malkin herself to measure him. Father had insisted on fresh and precise measurements being taken despite the growth charms. Draco figured it was one of those adult things that he'd understand as he continued in his training to take over as Head of House.

He heard the bell on the shop door jingle and turned to look over his shoulder, ignoring Madam Malkin's protest. She was going to get up in a second anyway; the shop's policy was for her to personally greet all new customers. Draco watched the boy who had entered look around, clearly nervous. He wasn't someone Draco recognized from his family's balls or political events, but the very fact that he came into the shop alone meant that he wasn't a Mudblood. He had dark hair that stood up everywhere, green eyes behind round glasses, and ... Draco rose onto his toes and watched very closely. Yes! The boy brushed his hair back for the briefest second, and there it was, the lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Madam Malkin didn't appear to notice, greeting Harry Potter like any random wizard-raised child. He followed her to the back of the store and stepped onto a stool close to Draco.

"Hello," Draco said. "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," Harry Potter answered, most of his attention on Madam Malkin as she brought a standard measuring robe over to him.

"My father's next door buying my books, and Mother's up the street looking at wands," Draco said, trying to sound confident and unconcerned with Harry Potter's fame. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one, and I'll smuggle it in somehow." Potter didn't respond, so Draco tried to draw him into the conversation with a question. "Have you got your own broom?"

"No."

"Play Quidditch at all?" Plenty of children played on family brooms but didn't have a broom that was just theirs, after all. It was impolite to assume that not owning a personal broom meant that a wizard couldn't fly.

"No."

Draco frowned. Either Potter didn't like Quidditch (which meant Draco would be quite rude to continue on with it), or he was embarrassed by his substandard skill with the sport (in which case Draco would still be quite rude to continue the conversation). He briefly entertained the idea that Potter didn't know what Quidditch was, but the look of confusion could easily be attributed to him not understanding why Draco was still talking about a subject Potter had no interest in. They were both heading to Hogwarts, so perhaps a change of subject to Houses-

"Oh! I do apologize for my lack in manners," Draco said hurriedly. "May I present myself to you? Draco Malfoy, Scion of House Malfoy, Heir Apparent to House Black and House Lestrange."

Potter nodded briefly. "I'm Harry."

Draco's mouth gaped open. Was the other boy being purposefully rude, or was he honestly that untutored in the formal ways? Draco had been taught from the time he was old enough to speak the proper ways to introduce oneself and others, of course, but nobody was quite sure who had raised Potter - no, Harry; by introducing himself so informally, he had clearly invited Draco to call him familiarly - so perhaps it wasn't a family of breeding. If Harry had never been taught the forms, it wasn't his fault he was being rude.

"Well met, Harry Potter, Minor Head of House Potter and Minor Half Head of House Gryffindor."

Harry looked at Draco in shock. "You know who ... Of course you know who I am. Sorry. It's just that my fame is still new to me. Um, what's a minor head?"

Draco nodded to himself. Raised by those who didn't know the forms, then, or criminally neglected in his upbringing by someone who did know the forms. "Well, it just means that you're the Head of House Potter, but since you're still underage, you're a minor. So that makes you a Minor Head."

"Do hold still, Scion Malfoy!" a woman said from near his feet, and Draco looked down, hiding his surprise when he found that Madam Malkin had returned to working on his robes. "And Minor Head Potter, please forgive me. I did not recognize you. I would be more than happy to provide you personal service, at a discounted rate for my rudeness, as soon as I have completed Scion Malfoy's service."

"Er, that's okay," Harry replied. "You didn't know who I was, so I guess you weren't rude on purpose."

Draco sighed aloud. "Harry, it doesn't matter. All those of high status should be recognized on sight by those who serve us."

"Quite so, Minor Head Potter," Madam Malkin put in. "Though you have been out of the public eye since you were very young, you bear a remarkable resemblance to the late Former Head James Potter, your father. I should have recognized you."

"Er." Harry still looked confused, so Draco batted away Madam Malkin's hands and measuring tape and turned to face him.

"Look, Harry, you honestly should have been taught all of this already, but if you weren't, it's okay. I can help you with the most important things today or by owl post, and then when we start Hogwarts, my friends and I can help fill in the blanks for you. If you want my help, that is."

"Uh, sure, thanks, Draco. I mean, Scion Malfoy. Is that right?"

Draco smiled at him. "That is my formal title, but you can call me Draco. In fact, first lesson - Minor Head Potter, be invited to speak with me familiarly. That's your invitation to call me by my first name."

"Oh, okay. So then would I say Scion Malfoy, be invited to speak with me familiarly?"

"That's right!" Draco's smile turned into a grin. "Actually, since you're already invited to call me Draco, you could use that instead of Scion Malfoy, but the adults always like it better when you use the formal title with the formal language. That means if you were introducing me to someone, you would call me Scion Malfoy."

"That's you done, Scion Malfoy," Madam Malkin said from her place at Draco's feet. "Would you like me to owl the completed wardrobe to Malfoy Manor?" She stood with a quiet groan and helped Draco pull the measuring robe over his head.

He frowned in thought for a moment. "I believe Lord Malfoy will make that decision when he arrives in the shop."

"Very good, Scion Malfoy. Minor Head Potter, will you be requiring clothing other than Hogwarts robes?"

Harry looked over at Draco, his face pleading for help.

"Harry, do you have enough money that you can afford a full wardrobe?"

"Er, I think so. I got enough for a couple of terms, Hagrid said."

Draco's nose wrinkled at the thought of the gamekeeper his father had told him about. "Let me see your money bag. How much was left in the account?"

Harry shrugged as he handed his money bag to Draco. "I dunno. It looked like a lot, though. But I don't know how much things cost."

"If you got out the same amount of money each time, how many times could you withdraw from your vault?" The money bag held just barely enough for all of Harry's school supplies, a half wardrobe without growth charms, and enough spending money to owl-order gifts at Yule.

"Probably over a hundred times."

"Is that your only vault or just a trust vault?"

Harry looked confused again. "I don't know. It was the vault Hagrid had a key for."

Draco shook his head slowly. "Madam Malkin, please take Minor Head Potter's measurements as though he were getting a full wardrobe, including a couple of purely Muggle outfits, to the tailoring standards of House Malfoy. However, do not complete the order. Minor Head Potter will return by the close of business today to further instruct you on his order. Do complete the standard Hogwarts order, with growth charms, and add in a protective robe for Potions class." He turned to Harry. "We need to go to Gringotts. I say, look at that man!" He pointed over Harry's shoulder and out the window at an enormous man holding two ice cream cones.

"That's Hagrid, the man who brought me here. He's the Keeper of-"

"Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, right?" When Harry nodded, Draco frowned. "He's the one who has your key?"

"He said Professor Dumbledore keeps it, but he has it today."

"I see. Well, go get your ice cream, then, and I'll finish up in here. I think we should go to Gringotts and get a full accounting so you know what kind of spending money you're working with. Father should be along any minute now, and he can help us, too."

Harry glanced outside at Hagrid, smiled at the half-giant, and turned back to Draco. "You'll meet me outside if I wait for you?"

"Absolutely. Actually-" He turned back towards Madam Malkin, now measuring Harry's robes with her head bowed so as not to be intrusive. Well-trained woman. "Prepare a decent robe for Minor Head Potter to be seen in the Alley. Old style for this one." He murmured quietly to Harry, "The old style will cover those filthy Muggle clothes you're wearing."

"Right away, Scion Malfoy, Minor Head Potter. Would that robe be for immediate use?"

"Yes. The rest of his wardrobe will not be."

"Very good. I will have the initial robe prepared within ten minutes. Shall we keep to the standard black?"

A voice intruded from the doorway. "I believe that would be prudent, but perhaps the trim ought to be green to match his eyes. Minor Head Potter, do you wish to include the crest of your House on the robes?"

Draco grinned as he turned, but he quickly controlled it. "Minor Head Potter, may I present to you my father, Lord Lucius Malfoy, Head of House Malfoy, Wizengamot Representative, and Special Advisor to the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge? Lord Malfoy, may I present to you Harry Potter, Minor Head of House Potter and Minor Half Head of House Gryffindor?"

"Well met, Minor Head Potter," Father said, extending both hands in the formal greeting towards Harry.

"Er, well met, Lord Malfoy?" Harry sounded uncertain, but he held his hands out as well. Father took them and squeezed gently.

"Minor Head Potter, may I assume that you are on familiar terms with my son?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, Lord Malfoy, Draco and I are on first-name terms."

"Tradition then states that you may call me Mr. Malfoy, should you choose to do so."

"Oh! Thanks for telling me that, Mr. Malfoy. And, er, I'm not ... familiar with the details of House Potter's crest."

Draco nodded subtly when Harry glanced over at him uncertainly. The boy was definitely making mistakes, but they weren't egregious and were certainly understandable for his first time in society. "Madam Malkin will be able to show you," he added. "Because she puts crests on robes all the time, she has a book with all of them."

"Can I see yours, then?" Harry asks, and Draco suppressed a wince.

"They're on my proper robes, which I'm about to put back on, now that my fitting is over. But Harry, you should know it's kind of rude to ask to see someone's family crest. If you were raised in the proper society, you would already know the crests." He immediately regretted the rebuke, though Harry really did need to know this kind of thing if he was going to be joining real wizarding society when he started at Hogwarts - and it would be quite a shame if he didn't. "I'm not mad or anything!" he hastily clarified. "I'm just teaching you so you know for the next time, okay?"

Harry grinned happily at him. "Okay. Thanks, Draco."

Madam Malkin showed Harry his crest in her book, and he agreed to have it placed on his robes. Draco made a mental note to explain the positioning of crests and the status within the family to Harry later, but for now he shooed the boy out of the shop to meet with his escort and eat his ice cream cone.

"Thank you, Father," Draco said sincerely. "I had not thought of his crest."

"You were doing quite well," Father told him. Draco was well versed in his father's subtle facial expressions, so he could see the pride that was otherwise unnoticeable. "I gather Minor Head Potter was not previously educated on society or the forms?"

"No, sir. He has agreed for me to tutor him before beginning at Hogwarts, though. Also, I would like to accompany him to Gringotts to get an accounting of his holdings and help him understand how to manage it to show his place in society. If he agrees, I'd appreciate your help."

Father nodded before turning to finish their business with Madam Malkin. "Speak with him, and be certain to gain permission from the half-breed as well. If you must, tell the giant he may join us to ensure Minor Head Potter's well-being, but do not offer it unless he requests it or shows great hesitance to allow our assistance."

"Yes, Father." Draco waited for a short moment to be certain Father didn't have anything more to say to him before stepping out of the shop to do as he was told.

Despite not holding a Lordship, House Potter had even more wealth than House Malfoy. With the guidance of the Malfoys, Harry completed his school purchases as well as obtaining a full wardrobe and other necessities. On Draco's recommendation, he also got a few books that would help him learn the forms and customs of society as well as introduce him to the major families, their children at Hogwarts, their crests, and their business and political interests. Hagrid had hovered disconcertingly close throughout the afternoon and had a large number of things to say when Harry had asked for the details of his fame.

"This is actually quite good, though," Draco interrupted the borderline argument as Father started to look angry. "Harry, Hagrid holds a very extreme viewpoint to one side, while Father and I are more neutral or even to the other side. I can get you an accounting from an extreme viewpoint opposite from Hagrid's as well as some more moderate accounts, if you'd like."

Father nodded slightly to show his approval of Draco's handling of the situation. "Of course, Mr. Potter," he agreed. "I would be more than happy to assist my son in his efforts."

"That sounds great," Harry replied. "I wouldn't want to only know one side of the story. Mr. Malfoy, Hagrid, thank you both for sharing your side of it. I'm certain the truth is somewhere in between, and of course nobody knows all of the facts from when they were not there. It is very helpful to know two opposing views. I will consider both of them, as well as other viewpoints either of you might like to share with me."

"Yer right I'll be sendin' you some other stories," Hagrid said, putting a hand almost possessively on Harry's shoulder. "Get 'em from friends o' yer parents, so you know ter trust 'em."

"Very diplomatic of you, Mr. Potter," Father offered with a faint smile. Draco knew that meant he was extremely pleased with Harry's statement. "Now, before we part company, are there any other questions you have for me or Draco, or any other subjects on which you'd like to hear two sides? I am fairly certain that Hagrid and I would have opposing views on nearly every topic."

"Every topic," Hagrid corrected with a glare, and Draco barely suppressed a laugh at Father's openly amused expression.

"Hagrid, surely you don't mean to suggest that you find Mr. Potter anything less than a smart, charming young man?"

Harry laughed outright at this, and Hagrid spluttered for almost a full minute before subsiding into silence.

"Thank you for the kind compliment, Mr. Malfoy, Hagrid," Harry said, and Draco swore he could see amusement in Harry's eyes at Father's slight cringe to be thanked in the same breath as a half-breed. "As to your question, Mr. Malfoy, I cannot think of any topics at the present time, but I will send Hedwig with a letter for you if I think of any. You and Draco - and you too, of course, Hagrid - should feel welcome to send me an owl at any time. Draco, I hope you'll keep helping me with the manners and everything, and we'll have to arrange to meet up on the train to school."

"Of course, Harry!"

Father rose and reached both hands for Harry again. "Merlin smile on you, Mr. Potter."

"Until we next meet," Draco supplied in a whisper, and Harry smiled at him gratefully.

"Until we next meet, Mr. Malfoy," he repeated dutifully, taking Father's hands in his own and meeting the customary squeeze. "Bye, Draco."

"I'll owl you, Harry," Draco promised, then held out his hands for the customary goodbye. "Blessings of Morgana."

"Until we next meet?"

Draco nodded as they released each other's hands, then turned to Father, ready to apparate home.

* * *

"There is space in this compartment," Harry offered slowly, "but if you join me, you have to be nice to me and to my traveling companion, as well as anyone else who might join us. I'm telling you this because, even though you didn't introduce yourself, I think you're a Weasley, and Draco Malfoy is the other person sitting here. He's in the loo right now, but he'll be back."

The Weasley boy frowned. "I thought you were Harry Potter."

"Ah, yes. May I present myself to you? Harry Potter, Minor Head of House Potter and Minor Half Head of House Gryffindor."

"Old forms," the red head muttered to himself. "Er, well met, Minor Head Potter. I am Ronald Weasley, minor sixth son of the English Branch Head of House Weasley. Please be invited to call me Ron."

"Well met, Ron," Harry replied, noticing a few errors in the boy's form but dismissing them. Ron was the youngest son of many and stood almost no chance of gaining even Branch Head status, so it was likely he would drop out of high society in adulthood. Still, it was definitely enough for him to get by in school. Those who would judge that specifically on his forms would have already judged on his birth status. "Please be invited to use semi-formal address."

The boy frowned, still standing the doorway to the compartment. "Okay, but can I ask why, Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded and smiled reassuringly at him. "I simply don't know you well yet, Ron. Given my fame and the number of people who want to be close to me for that reason alone, I prefer to reserve informal address for those proven to be my friends. You have a chance to become a real friend, so don't be offended by the semi-formal address. I just can't invite everyone I meet, not even everyone my age, to be informal without knowing their plan for me first."

Ron returned the smile and finally took a seat in the compartment. "Oh, that makes sense, Mr. Potter. And, um, I'll be nice to Malfoy - er, to Scion Malfoy - as long as he's nice to me."

"That will not be a problem, Sixth Son Weasley," Draco said from the doorway. "Greetings and blessings of Morgana on your day."

"Greetings and Merlin's smile on you, Scion Malfoy," Ron bit out, polite but clearly still unhappy to be with Draco. "Please be invited to address me semi-formally."

"Please be invited to do the same, Mr. Weasley," Draco returned as he reclaimed his seat beside Harry. "Might I assume you've met?" he asked, indicating both of the other boys.

Ron nodded as Harry spoke, "I have met Ron. I offered him a seat in this compartment as long as he's nice. I'll do the same for anyone else who visits."

"Wonderful. Mr. Weasley, I understand you are aware of the feud between our families?" He waited until Ron confirmed this before continuing. "As we are both victims of this feud and bear no blame in it, and as we are both at least friendly acquaintances of Harry, and as we must spend the next seven years in each other's company and perhaps also in our adulthood, I wish to offer a generational truce on the feud with the possibility of future cooperation between our Houses."

Ron gaped at the blond. "Seriously?" He clapped a hand over his mouth and looked horrified. "Er, I mean, Mr. Malfoy, I conditionally accept your offer of a generational truce and request time to speak with Branch Scion Bill Weasley and the other Sons Weasley and Daughter Weasley regarding full acceptance. Would you like me to continue as, er...."

Draco seemed to take pity on the boy, who was clearly getting out of his depth in the less common forms. "Yes, Mr. Weasley. I would prefer you to continue as Truce Liaison between myself and Branch Scion Weasley, though of course I shall make myself available to speak with him in my capacity as Scion Malfoy, should he request that." He nodded firmly, then reached into his bag. "Business concluded?" he asked.

Ron nodded, and Harry laughed. "Since my family isn't currently feuding with anyone, I sure don't have anything to add. Unless you'll be needing a Truce Witness, in which case I'm happy to help. And Draco, thank you."

Draco frowned at Harry, then ignored the last statement. "In that case, Harry, Mr. Weasley, I have a deck of Exploding Snap if you'd like to play. Scions Crabbe and Goyle should be joining us soon, as well, but they'll be okay if they miss a few hands."

Indeed, after two hands (and with a slightly soot-stained group of boys), the door to the compartment slid open. They all looked up, expecting Crabbe and Goyle, but a bushy-haired girl that Harry didn't recognize stood there instead. He glanced briefly at Ron and Draco, but neither of them seemed to know her, either.

"Have any of you seen a toad?" she asked, and the skipped introduction marked her as clearly not from high society. "Neville's lost one."

"I haven't seen one," Ron said, but Draco looked thoughtful.

"I don't believe I've seen it, but I did hear croaking from the first loo on the left, two cars back," he offered. "May I present myself and my traveling companions to you?"

The girl looked confused for a moment, then nodded. "Like introductions?"

Draco inclined his head gracefully, and Harry nodded. "I am Draco Malfoy, Scion of House Malfoy, Heir Apparent to House Black and House Lestrange. Please be invited to address me semi-formally, that is, as Mr. Malfoy. This is Ronald Weasley, Sixth Son of the English Branch Head of House Weasley. Finally, this is Harry Potter, Minor Head of House Potter and Minor Half Head of House Gryffindor."

"Please address me semi-formally as well," Harry said.

"And me informally," Ron added.

"Er, so that's Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, and Ronald?"

Ron nodded. "Except I prefer Ron."

"Nice to meet you." Harry smiled to himself as his thought was confirmed - muggle raised. "I'm Hermione Granger. I don't know if there are any titles for a witch raised in the nonmagical world."

"Well met, Miss Granger," the boys chorused, and then Draco added, "You can certainly claim First Generation Witch or First Generation Magical, and you'd have to do a blood test through Gringotts or the Ministry, but you might be able to claim Minor Head of House Granger, as well, though of course it wouldn't have any political power with an eleven year old as the only member. And there's always the possibility that you're the long-lost heir of some House thought to be extinct, but that's not very likely."

She grinned at him. "That's good to know, Mr. Malfoy; thank you. And all of you can address me informally. Hermione, no nicknames, please. I should go check out that loo for Neville's toad, though. Sorry to meet you and then run."

"Feel free to come back and join us, and bring Neville for us to meet as well," Harry offered.

"Neville Longbottom?" Ron asked, and Hermione nodded. "I've met him a couple of times. It would be nice to see him again, if he's interested."

She grinned at them all. "Thanks! I'll see if he'll come visit with me. Um, is there a special way you say goodbye? Neville didn't teach me any of this, but he was pretty upset about the toad."

Draco laughed softly. "Priorities." Harry nudged him with his shoe, understanding that Draco was negatively judging Scion Longbottom for putting a toad above manners. "There are several ways to say goodbye, and the correct response for all of them is 'Until we next meet.' May Merlin smile upon you, Hermione."

"Until we next meet, Mr. Malfoy."

Harry smiled. "That was good. Blessings of Morgana, Hermione."

"Until we next meet, Mr. Potter."

"Bye, Hermione."

She frowned. "That's not very fancy!"

"Well, since we call each other by our first names, we don't have to use formal greetings and such," Ron explained. "I mean, we can if you want to-"

"Maybe just to practice sometimes, but right now it's okay. See you later, Ron!" She gently closed the compartment door behind her.

"A Mudblood?" Draco sneered, and Harry kicked his foot again.

"Don't use that word, Draco, and don't judge. Besides, you should be happy she's trying to learn the forms. Weren't you saying just last week that the problem with first generation magicals is that they don't respect tradition?"

Draco glared at him before relenting. "Fine. For a _Muggleborn_ , she seems to be okay."

"She seems okay for anyone," Ron argued, looking upset. "She has magic just the same as you. Just because your parents do, too, doesn't make you any better than her."

"Ron, I agree with you, but I think Draco is also going to think he's better than her because he'll inherit an lordship when he's older. I can't argue that the lordship gives him a higher place in society than any of us. But Draco, if you look at it without the lordship you'll have and Head of House status we'll both have, the four of us are really all the same."

Ron laughed. "Except she's a girl."

"Okay, there is that, but I mean we all have magic, and we're all going to be learning the same things in classes."

Draco huffed and pouted a little bit. "Fine. How about, for a Muggleborn, she seems to be okay with the forms?"

"I can agree with that."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Good. Now can we all agree that I'm still better because I'm in line to be Lord Malfoy?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, Future Lord Draco, you're better than all of us. We bow at your feet and worship your farts."

Ron laughed and joined in. "Please breathe on us, Your Future Lordship, so we can breathe in some of your betterness."

"Oi!" Draco crossed his arms over his chest and glared at both of them. "Potter, Weasley, you're both idiots."

"That's true," Harry said, pleased with himself for stopping an argument before it started and heading off the Malfoy/Weasley feud from restarting in this generation. "Have you got any Chocolate Frogs?"

* * *

"I'm just saying, it doesn't take much bravery to go a house where you have three brothers," Harry explained. "Besides, for you to want to make your family happy and join them in the house they've been in for generations sounds like you have very strong Hufflepuff loyalty."

Ron looked thoughtful. "Malfoys have been in Slytherin for generations."

Draco wrinkled his nose. "Perish the thought. I'll make Slytherin for my cunning and ambition rather than family loyalty. Potters have been in Gryffindor for years, and they carry half of the Headship of House Gryffindor. I'm not sure if that's automatic Gryffindor or another example of Hufflepuff loyalty."

"Your mum was in Gryffindor, too," Ron added, "or least that's what the stories about you say."

Harry shrugged. "I can see myself in any house, really. It takes bravery as well as cunning to deal with the fame and not let everyone call me by my first name, but it's been a lot of learning to get up to speed on my place in the wizarding world, and I'm used to working hard at my aunt and uncle's house. Then again, I think there are ways to work less hard and still get the same result, and I want to learn so I can use it instead of just for the sake of learning. I guess it'll probably be Gryffindor or Slytherin for me."

"The Minor Half-Head of Gryffindor in Slytherin," Draco said slowly, a grin spreading across his face. "Oh, that would just be priceless."

Draco certainly did seem to find it a great joke when the Sorting Hat called out, "Slytherin, Heir of Gryffindor!" for Harry, and he motioned the other boy to sit beside him at the long table. "Brilliant! You're a part of our house, but you also have full membership in Gryffindor as a formally recognized heir!"

"So Neville does, too?" The boy they'd met on the train had been sorted into Hufflepuff after Harry convinced him that he didn't have to be in Gryffindor to live up to his father's example and his family's half of the Gryffindor Headship, even if his grandmother seemed to think so.

"Yep! This is going to be a fun seven years." Even Ron being sorted into Gryffindor - and giving Draco, Harry, Neville, and the new Ravenclaw Hermione a wave on his way to the table - didn't dull Draco's blissful smile.

* * *

_Bill,_

_Hey, big brother! Hogwarts is just as great as you always said. I'm in Gryffindor. I have two other roommates, Dean and Seamus. They both seem okay, but I actually have friends in other houses that I met on the train. I think you know of Neville Longbottom. He's a Hufflepuff, but he's also an air of Gryffindor, so he can come in the Gryffindor common room to visit any time he wants, apparently. So is Harry Potter - yes, I met THE Harry Potter on the train! He let me sit with him! Anyway, he's in Slytherin but it's okay because he said he'll still be friends and spend some time in Gryffindor so I can help make sure the slimy snakes don't turn him evil._

_He's also friends with Draco Malfoy. Malfoy's in Slytherin too of course. Something weird happened on the train though. Malfoy made a formal offer that I have to bring to you as our sion. He offered a generational truce on the feud between our families. I already talked to Percy, Fred, and George about it. They said they'll think about it and owl you in the next few days. I sent an owl to Charlie and Ginny too telling them about this. Malfoy said he wants me to continue as Truce Liason between him and you unless you want to talk to him about it. I conditionally accepted the truce. I told him I had to talk to you and everyone else about it before full acceptance._

_Malfoy said it's because we're both friendly with Mr. Potter and we have to be near each other in school and will probably end up seeing each other as adults - I mean, Malfoy's father and our Dad see each other all the time, and they didn't have to spend seven years at school together! He also said something about future cooperation between the Houses. He didn't mention anything about a formal alliance but cooperation would be good too, right?_

_I also met a girl named Hermione Granger. She's a Muggleborn and she went to Ravenclaw. Mr. Potter and Malfoy seem to like her - it was weird though, hearing Mr. Potter tell Malfoy off for judging her for being a Muggleborn. Malfoy ended up agreeing that she wasn't too bad just because she wants to learn the old forms. He thinks that means she'll turn into one of them, but I think she's just a real Ravenclaw learning everything she hears about. A Muggleborn wouldn't turn into a formal idiot, right? I think if I team up with her after she realizes the formal stuff is just about blood status we can convince Mr. Potter to let it go too. It's not right for the Boy-Who-Lived to be so into all that. But he said he was raised by Muggles and the Malfoys told him this is how people talk. I'll just teach him the right way and it'll be okay._

_Well, classes start tomorrow, so I'm going to send this off and go to sleep. Write back!_

_Ron_

* * *

_Sixth Son Ronald,_

_Thank you for your proper service to House Weasley in accepting the post of Truce Liaison between myself and Scion Malfoy as we explore the options for a Generational Truce. Enclosed you will find a separately sealed envelope; please deliver it to Scion Malfoy at your earliest convenience. I still await opinions from some of our siblings regarding this truce; however, I find no harm in approaching Scion Malfoy regarding details of the formalized Truce. I have advised him that he may speak with you regarding these details if he chooses. Please make a record of any negotiations you enter with Scion Malfoy, and do not formally agree to anything without my express permission._

_With gratitude and familial fondness, and may Merlin smile upon our efforts in this Truce,  
Branch Scion William Weasley_

_Ron-_

_You're doing great! I'm so proud of you! Bringing a truce is really awesome. Congratulations on Gryffindor, too. I'm glad you have nice roommates and also friends in the other houses. It's important not to be stuck just in your house._

_Be patient with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Learning the formal ways is part of them learning about the world they were just thrown into. They might decide they don't like the formal stuff, and if that happens, you know a lot of other parts of the wizarding world that they might like better. But Ron, they might decide that they like that tradition. It doesn't make them evil or blood purists. It just means they like the formal tradition. Look at Draco Malfoy - he was raised on blood purity and formality and our feud, but he's reaching out to stop the feud and is friendly with a Muggleborn. I think we can help him with becoming a better person. Keep being friendly to him and the other two. It would be really great if Weasleys could help the Malfoy family be nicer._

_Just remember, Slytherin isn't evil. Formal isn't evil. Kids who believe in blood purity aren't evil, either - they just need some help seeing the other side. Give them some time before you decide who's good and who's bad._

_I'm proud of you, little brother. Let me know how your classes are going in your next letter. Especially flying! Work on that all year. If you make the Gryffindor Quidditch team, I'll see if Mom, Dad, Charlie, and I can all go in together to get you a good broom. I just want to warn you that I'll only do that if I hear that you're being patient with the Slytherins, though. Be good in classes and help those other kids not be evil, and I promise I'll find something good for you._

_Love you, little brother!_

_Bill_

* * *

"Wait, I don't want to hang around Slytherins!" Ron protested as they left the Great Hall together to meet Hermione and Neville in the library to finish their Transfigurations essays.

Harry stopped in the middle of the corridor. "Ron ... do you ever want to hang around any Slytherins?"

"No way, Harry."

"You remember that I'm a Slytherin, don't you?"

Ron frowned. "I guess, but you're a Gryffindor, too, so that's what matters."

Draco tapped Harry on the shoulder, waited for permission to enter the conversation, and added his piece. "Mr. Weasley, do you judge people based on their blood?"

"What? No! You know I don't believe all that pure blood stuff that you do!"

"You don't judge anyone based on their blood?" Draco pressed.

Ron glared at him. "No. Not anyone. I got past your blood and stopped being a part of the feud, didn't I?"

"You did, and you're friends with several people who aren't pureblood," Draco said slowly. "With that and your own words, I can't quite understand why you continue to judge Harry based on his blood."

Ron stared at Draco with his mouth hanging open. "Judge Harry by his blood? What are you talking about?"

"I'm a part of Gryffindor because I'm an Heir," Harry explained with a grin slowly spreading across his face. "That's because of my blood. I was sorted into Slytherin, so if it weren't for my blood, that would be my only house. You calling me a Gryffindor and saying it makes me less of a Slytherin is judging me on my blood."

"Exactly," Draco confirmed.

Ron stared at the pair of them before rolling his eyes and marching away. Draco and Harry exchanged a glance, but Ron interrupted, calling over his shoulder, "Well, are you Slytherins coming or not?"

* * *

"Honestly, Harry," Draco said, exasperated. "That's why you don't wander around with the other houses. You're bound to die horribly."

"The dog didn't kill us," Harry argued. "Anyway, Ron said it was a Cerberus, and Hermione noticed it was standing on a trap door."

Draco sobered immediately. "A trap door? Bad enough to have a Cerberus in the school, but a visible trap door means it's guarding something, and if four first year students can accidentally come across it, then it's not terribly well hidden or protected. If that thing got loose in the school ... I'll owl Father in the morning."

"Good plan."

* * *

"Mr. P-p-potter, please st-stay after class."

The Slytherins all said they were treated better this year than other years (and the older students attributed that to Minor Head Potter being in their house, being friendly with the other houses, and demanding that teachers treat Slytherin the way he heard they treated the other houses), but they still didn't leave any of their own alone, even with a teacher. Since Harry had been complaining of scar pain in Quirrell's class since the start of the year, they certainly weren't going to have any less than the full complement of first year Slytherins present. Neville caught Harry's eye and mouthed, "Hufflepuff will stay if you want," and Harry nodded at him.

"Professor Quirrell, I'd like to exercise my right to have classmates present for our meeting."

The professor frowned at him but was left with no choice but to agree. When the bell rang and no student rose from their desk, he frowned again. "S-surely you d-d-don't need everyone, Mr. P-p-potter?"

"Professor, please do me the courtesy of addressing me by my title, as I have not invited you to do otherwise. During class, you are entitled to address me semi-formally, but class is now over."

Quirrell glared at Harry. "Very well, M-m-minor Head Potter. F-forgive my m-m-mistake."

Harry continued to meet the professor's eyes steadily without speaking. He would not accept an apology that wasn't sincere, and the continued glare made it all too clear that Quirrell was far from sincere. He fought the urge to rub at his burning scar.

"P-please approach my d-desk so we can speak w-w-without making your business p-p-public."

"I appreciate the invitation, Professor, but I don't believe that will be necessary. My grades are consistently Outstandings, I have no disciplinary problems with you, and we do not have a personal relationship. Therefore, any business you would have with me is either already public or unimportant."

The professor's wand seemed to appear suddenly in his hand, and Harry dodged to the side before he finished casting, "Stupefy!" He heard a soft thumping sound and thought that Ernie MacMillan, who sat directly behind him, must have been hit by the stunner. "Stupefy! Stupefy!" All the students who hadn't yet been hit were now taking cover behind overturned tables, and a group of Hufflepuffs had pulled Ernie down out of the line of fire as well.

"We've got to get out of here!" Harry said, but Draco shook his head as the professor's curses turned more dangerous.

"The tables are too heavy to move, and none of us can cast a shield strong enough to block him."

"We can together," Neville said. "We've been practicing with some of the older students. If all of us shield one person, we can block Quirrell's curses, but Ernie's the only one good enough to shield while he's walking. We'll have to shield one of you."

The Slytherins glanced around at each other. "I'll do it," Harry offered, but Theodore immediately shot that down.

"It's you he wants, Harry. If he sees you, the curses will get stronger, and we don't want to strain the Hufflepuffs' shields. Even if all the rest of us can figure out how to do it with them, it might not be enough. Besides, if he follows you out into the school, he might get away before you can get help."

Harry swore but nodded. "I can try to keep his attention off whoever leaves, then," he said.

"Only if you have to," Daphne countered. "I'll go. Hufflepuff, tell me when you're ready for me to get in the open. I'll run out of here so you don't have to shield for long."

"Daughter Greengrass, we have to refer to you informally to shield effectively," Neville warned.

She nodded almost regally. "First year members of Hufflepuff House, please be invited to refer to me informally and to speak with me semi-formally or informally, to your individual comfort, if you keep me safe getting out of here," she offered formally, and Harry fought back a grin despite his best efforts. A conditional offer of familiarity at a time like this.

"Protego Daphne," the Hufflepuff students all intoned at once, and a visible shield sprang up around her. "Go," Neville said with a slight strain in his voice. "Quickly!"

As she ran out of the room, only two curses hit the shield, and the Hufflepuffs breathed a sigh of relief as they collapsed against the tables once again. "Nothing got through," Justin clarified as Neville panted for breath. "She's okay."

"Let's just hope she's quick with the help," Draco muttered to himself.

Quirrell's curses got more intense, and the tables started to break apart under the onslaught. "I don't recognize some of these," Draco said to Harry with his eyes wide, "but the ones I do know are really dark! You can die if you get hit with one of those, and it wouldn't be a very comfortable death!"

Harry grimaced and glanced around the edge of the table. Quirrell's turban had come loose, and it looked like he had some kind of deformity on the back of his head. "There you are, boy!"

Harry ducked back behind the table as a dark red curse flew through the space his head had just been occupying. "He's not stuttering anymore," he told Draco. "He's acting a lot more powerful than he normally is, too."

"Did his eyes look the same as normal?" Tracey asked, and Harry shrugged.

"I'll check," Neville said from the next table over, and he stuck his head out only to jerk back to dodge another dark red spell. "They're red instead of brown."

"Red!" Draco looked even more pale than usual. "Please hurry, Daphne!"

"What is it?"

Draco pressed his lips together and shook his head.

"Seriously, what-" The classroom door slamming open interrupted him.

"Quirrell! Cease this reckless nonsense at once!" Professor Snape ordered, an invisible shield blocking each curse flying at him.

Quirrell laughed, a high-pitched sound quite unlike his usual nervous giggle. "Severus, how kind of you to join us! Get the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Die and come with me from this castle, and I will elevate you above even Lucius!"

Draco whimpered and grabbed at Harry's arm. "It's Him! You can't go out there, Harry, and don't let Snape get close to you!"

Professor Snape laughed darkly as he engaged Quirrell in a duel, moving around the room to draw his fire away from the children. "Quirinus, I would never follow a weak creature like you. There's no glory in serving a man who won't even fetch helpless children for himself."

"He has to know," Draco almost moaned, still hanging on to Harry's forearm. "I don't know what he's playing at, but don't trust either of them, Harry. Promise me!"

"Alright, Draco! I'm not about to go jump out into the middle of that fight!" Harry, like a few other students from the class, was now kneeling behind the table with his head out of cover to watch the fast duel. He was pretty sure they were learning more in a few minutes of watching this than they had all year long.

"Quirinus Quirrell is not the one you would follow, Severus," said a high-pitched voice. Harry grabbed at his scar and fell over half on top of Draco as the man turned to face Professor Snape more, putting his back to the children. "Surely you wouldn't forsake your lord?"

"There's a face on the back of his head," Harry gasped out, and Draco whimpered again.

The spellfire stopped very suddenly, leaving the room in a heavy silence. "Quirinus, Merlin strike you dead on the spot if you're having me on," Professor Snape growled after a long moment.

"You know the penalty for purposefully cursing your master," the high voice answered.

Harry struggled back up onto his knees in time to see Quirrell turning to face the students. There was a long moment of silence before Professor Snape spoke. "It truly is you."

"Now that the Potter brat got the Philospher's Stone moved from the castle, I require another route back to my body. I recall an old ritual requiring the blood of my enemy. Fetch the boy, Severus, and return to my service."

"I'm afraid he won't be accompanying you from this castle," came an older but strong voice from the doorway. Harry whipped his head around to see Headmaster Dumbledore standing there, wand out and trained on Quirrell. "Severus is in my service now. You failed to give yourself a spy, Tom, and gave me one instead. Even if he should want to serve you, he stands no chance of leaving this castle with Harry Potter."

"Why are they fighting over me?" Harry hissed to Draco, but the blond shushed him and peeked over the edge of the table with Harry to watch the scene.

"Very well," the high voice replied. "Severus will remain with you - but only until I call for him again. As for the boy...." A fuzzy form almost like a ghost seemed to rush out of Quirrell's body. Harry saw Quirrell collapse on the classroom floor, but he was more concerned with the not-ghost rushing straight at him. At the last moment, Draco grabbed Harry and spun them so the not-ghost went through him on its way into Harry. Both boys screamed, and the not-ghost also screamed as it flew out of Harry and through the classroom wall.

Harry vaguely saw Professors Snape and Dumbledore rush over to him and Draco, but everything went black before they reached him.

* * *

"It's kind of cool," Draco said for the twelfth time.

"It's an incredible cliché and completely unnecessary," Harry responded, also for the twelfth time. His fingers traced over the small dragon already scarred into his neck.

"Fun-killer."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Like you won't be following me around the rest of my life, pointing to the dragon and saying, 'Look, that's from when I saved his life.'"

"You could sound a little more grateful, at least."

"Where's the fun in that?" Harry grinned at Draco as he turned from the mirror. "Come on, we've got Potions."

Draco winced. "Uncle Severus is going to kill me for trying to get myself killed saving you."

"Excellent. The sooner he kills you, the sooner you stop talking about my neck."

"Oi!"

* * *

"Welcome to Malfoy Manor, Minor Head Potter," Draco said with an expansive sweep of his arm across the large foyer. "May I present to you my mother, Lady Narcissa Black Malfoy, Spouse-Head of House Malfoy? Mother, may I present my friend Harry Potter, Minor Head of House Potter and Minor Half-Head of House Gryffindor?"

Harry tore his eyes away from the impressive room and smiled at the woman in front of him. "Well met, Lady Malfoy, and may I say that I find you even more beautiful than your wonderful home?"

She smiled down at him. "Well met indeed, Minor Head Potter, and thank you for your kind words. Please be invited to address me as Narcissa, Mrs. Malfoy, or any other respectful yet familiar address we can agree upon to your comfort."

Harry blinked at her, taken aback by the very open offer. "Er. Please be invited to call me Harry, of course. You as well, Mr. Malfoy."

"And the same invitation to you that my wife offered, Harry," the man replied. "I hope that you will come to feel as though you are among family during this Yule season with us. Now, before I have an elf take your belongings to your room, we must decide which room you'll be using. Would you feel more at home with a room in the family wing or the guest wing? The suite itself would be comparable; just the location would be different. Within the family wing, you could be next door to Draco, across the hall from him, or even further down the hall as you prefer."

Harry looked to Draco for guidance, but the other boy just returned the look without offering any advice.

"Er, Mr. Malfoy, I think I'd rather be near Draco," Harry finally replied. "And if you really do want me to feel like family, of course being in the family wing feels right."

"Would you like to look at each of the suites, Harry?" Mrs. Malfoy offered, and he nodded gratefully. "We would be happy to reserve it as yours alone as we do with Draco's room when he is away at school. When choosing a suite for more than just a holiday stay, I find it helpful to see them all and compare them."

"Reserve it?" Harry's mouth dropped open and he stared open at the woman. "You don't have to do that for me. I'm not really family, even if you like me and treat me better than my actual family. And I don't need a whole suite to myself. Just a little room with a bed is enough. It's more than I get at Hogwarts or at my aunt's house, anyway."

Mr. Malfoy cut in at that point with a sharp look at his wife. "I have always found it interesting that children must go from having individual rooms at home to sharing with their entire year at school," he said calmly as he ushered them towards the staircase. "Why, my year at Hogwarts had six boys all sharing the same size room that the year above me had only three boys in. It's all very unfair, not to mention the extreme lack of privacy for one to conduct family business in. Of course, I remained Scion while at school and for some time after, but I still had family affairs to attend to that would have been much better suited to a private study away from the prying eyes of other families."

"We have six boys, too," Draco offered. "It is quite crowded in the dormitory. Perhaps Uncle Severus would be able to provide private studies, at least on a rotating basis, for those of us who need their use."

"That is a wonderful idea, Draco. He will be attending a casual dinner with us tomorrow evening; I believe you should bring it up then."

"He's coming to dinner?" Harry asked, a little nervous about it. He got along well enough with his Head of Hogwarts House, of course, but they had never interacted outside of Hogwarts business or one pointing the other in Draco's direction.

Draco nodded with a happy smile on his face. "It will be wonderful to see him again," he said to Harry. "He has a suite in the family wing, as well. I'll show you where it is so you know."

"Thanks, Draco. I think it might be a little bit awkward to be right next door to his rooms if he stayed over while I was here."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Malfoy interjected. "I can understand how it would seem uncomfortable for a student who did not grow up friendly with Severus before knowing him at school to sleep next door. He typically stays overnight when he comes to dinner, but if you're not comfortable with it tomorrow, we would all understand. You shall have to inform us of your preference before dinner, Harry."

The younger boy nodded, more uncomfortable with the idea of telling his professor not to sleep in a house the man had clearly stayed in several times before Harry even heard of it.

"Here we are, dear," Mrs. Malfoy said. "This is Draco's room, and Severus's is two doors down on the left, and the suite Lucius and I share is directly across from Severus's room. The doors past that are usually used if older relatives stay over, to give something of a buffer between Draco and the boring adults." She winked at Draco, and he rolled his eyes at his mother. "All of the doors closer to the staircase are typically used by younger relatives or friends. None of them are reserved, though some may be more feminine than you'd like. Feel free to look at any of the rooms that aren't reserved and choose whichever you like the most!"

Harry looked at Draco, and the older boy rolled his eyes again before grabbing Harry's hand. "Yes, come on, you get to explore. Just pretend you're at Hogwarts and these are unused classrooms you get to look at after curfew!"

Mr. Malfoy chuckled at the comparison. "The difference is that there's no dirty Squib or mangy cat to get you in trouble. Take your time, Harry. Draco, call an elf to bring Harry's belongings up when he chooses a room. Dinner will be promptly at 7 in the informal dining room on the second floor; please make sure Harry is prepared in time."

"Have fun, boys," Mrs. Malfoy told them with a smile as she opened the first suite for them to explore, right beside Draco's room. Harry gaped as Draco tugged him in.

There was a large sitting room decorated in deep burgundy with dark green and silver highlights, with one side of the room featuring a desk and large bookshelf in dark walnut. "There's a privacy ward around the study area," Draco told him. "You just tap your wand against the rune, and nobody can see or hear what you're doing. They can see that you're there, of course, and you can see and hear them, but it gives you a bit of privacy if you need to work on family stuff or a good prank. Come on, let's see the rest of the suite."

The bedroom, dressing room, and bathroom all had the same decoration style as the sitting room, and they were each quite enormous to Harry's eye. The bathroom had a tub about four times larger than the one in Dudley's bathroom - and Harry had heard his cousin bragging that that bathtub was considered quite extravagant in the Muggle world. The sheer number of taps for the tub baffled Harry, but he decided he would rather experiment with them on his own than ask Draco about it.

Draco dragged Harry through each of the other empty suites - including the ones typically used by adults, just for completion's sake - and none were smaller than the first they looked at, though several were larger. Harry thought that the largest suite was probably the same size as the Dursleys' house. He briefly thought about using that one just for the comparison, but he decided he might get lost in something so large. In the end, he narrowed it down to the suite across from Draco and the first one they'd looked at, right next to Draco.

"I think there's ... Hang on...." Draco looked around the sitting room, then called, "Dobby!"

A small green creature appeared, and Harry recognized it from his society books as a house elf, though it was the first one he'd seen outside of a book. "Young Master has summoned Dobby?"

"Is there a passage between my suite and any of the others?" Draco asked, and Dobby bounced in place.

"Yes, Young Master! Dobby is knowing of a passage from Young Master's rooms to the suite across from Young Master's. It is being a door that goes directly from one sitting room to the other. There is being a password to see the door in each room, but Dobby is not knowing it, Young Master. Dobby thinks Binky or Master Lucius would be knowing the password."

"Sounds good," Harry said.

"Dobby, bring Harry's things up to the suite across from mine and set them up for him. Find out if Binky knows the password, and have him tell us. If he doesn't know, you tell us that." Draco turned back to Harry as the elf popped away. "You would pick the suite that's decorated like Ravenclaw," he grumbled. "Come on, we should watch Dobby so you can make sure he puts your stuff where you want it."

* * *

"Blessings of Morgana upon your manor and its inhabitants, Lord and Lady Malfoy. Your hospitality is surely unrivaled and deserving of all honor. The House of Potter recognizes your friendship this Yule season," Harry said formally, holding one of each of their hands in the formal manner.

"House Malfoy appreciates your recognition and in turn recognizes the friendship of House Potter this Yule season," Lucius Malfoy returned. "May Merlin smile upon the continued friendship of our Houses."

They squeezed and released hands, then Harry grinned. "Seriously, I had a great time, Uncle Lucius."

"I know, Harry," Lucius replied with a faint smile. "Remember, you have a room in Malfoy Manor at any time."

"Consider coming back at the Easter break," Narcissa implored, and Harry nodded.

"Depending on the full portfolio I get from Gringotts, I might have family business to conduct, but your invitation is at the top of my list if I can visit with anyone, Aunt Narcissa."

"Come on, Harry, we'll be late!"

Lucius shook his head and pointed to the large grandfather clock in the special foyer for the Floo. "Draco, the train leaves in 45 minutes. You're in no danger of missing it."

"But we promised, um, the others that we would meet them to find a compartment before the train filled up!" Draco said in a voice Harry would swear was a whine if he hadn't been told over and over that Malfoys do not whinge.

"Who all are these others, Draco?" Narcissa asked, and the boys glanced at each other before the blond looked at the floor.

"Mostly associates from other houses that Harry and I are working on starting alliances with," he answered after a short silence.

Lucius frowned, then looked away. "Very well, my scion. Keep your secrets if you wish. Just be certain you don't promise anything the current Head of House Malfoy isn't willing to give."

"Yes, Lord Malfoy," Draco replied with a bowed head. "Each participant in negotiations understands that nothing is a formal offer until such time as each House meets with Heads or authorized representatives."

"Well done, my scion. Continue appropriately." Lucius stepped forward and opened his arms. "Come, Draco." They hugged, Lucius smoothed Draco's hair, and Draco turned to hug his mother. "Harry?"

He jumped, staring at his new Uncle Lucius. "Yes?"

"Would you like a family send-off?" After a long moment of silence, Lucius opened his arms to Harry as he had for Draco. "If you wish."

Harry frowned and looked at each of the Malfoys in turn. They all looked encouraging but not demanding, and he swallowed hard before nodding. "I can do it if you want."

Lucius sighed. "If you want, Harry. Your choice will not change how we think of you or how we treat you."

"I like it because it's the last hug I get from them for a few months while we're at school," Draco offered quietly, "but since it would be your first hug from them, it's probably normal for that to seem different. Up to you."

Harry shifted back and forth between his feet as he thought. The only hugs he'd had so far in his life had mostly been from Hermione when she was happy to see him or Aunt Petunia when she was pretending to be happy to see him but really barely letting him breathe. But Draco had looked happy when he was getting hugged by his father, though he hadn't been able to see the boy's face when his mother was hugging him. "I have to be able to breathe during the hug," he said quietly, taking one step forward towards Lucius.

"Of course," Lucius replied, his arms still open, but Harry looked to Narcissa before moving again.

"I promise, Harry," she said, and he took another hesitant step up.

Uncle Lucius's arms came around Harry slowly, and he jumped at the first contact before forcing himself to settle down and hold still. Lucius held him loosely for a long moment before Harry realized that he was supposed to have a part in this. He reached up and set one hand on Uncle Lucius's shoulder, then another on the other shoulder. It wasn't quite what Draco had done, but a shiver ran through Harry's spine suddenly, and he pulled back out of the hug. He stepped back quickly. "Um, I guess I'll see you another time," he said, almost tripping over the words as he backed away to the fireplace. "Ready, Draco?"

As the fireplace spit him out onto Platform 9 3/4, Harry realized that he hadn't managed to hug Aunt Narcissa or even really say goodbye to her. That sort of behavior was probably frowned upon for someone just recently asked to call the family Aunt and Uncle, but he couldn't seem to find it in him to go back and correct his mistake. He ran for the train before Uncle Lucius could follow him through as they'd planned, dropping into a seat in the most rear compartment he could find. Draco, Neville, Hannah, Hermione, and Ron all knew where to find him, and hopefully Draco wouldn't mention Harry's faux pas to any of the others.

* * *

"Please, I'm much more attractive than him," Draco said, glaring at Hermione. "Also, point of interest, I've never lied about killing things."

Hermione glared at her Slytherin friend. "Professor Lockhart wouldn't lie about it! He doesn't need to, anyway. Just read his books, Draco. He's done all kinds of wonderful things!"

Draco sighed and reached into his bag. "Look, would you believe me if I said it's an open secret in high society that he's a liar who Obliviates his victims? That's why none of us will associate with him. Well, that, and we might be vain, but the Witch Weekly smile award is _not_ something to be proud of."

"That's not proof," she answered.

"I thought you'd say that. Here. Is this proof enough?" He passed her a neatly rolled scroll tied off with a deep purple ribbon. "Records of Gilderoy Lockhart's known - and verified with evidence - whereabouts compared to what's reported in his books. For extra proof, there's also a timeline of each reported incident with the time necessary to get international portkeys blocked out on either side. You'll notice that many of them overlap? Finally, if all that doesn't convince you, I can get my hands on his passport. He has a tendency to arrive in the countries about a week after he allegedly vanquishes each of those creatures."

Hermione untied the ribbon and started reading the scroll, eyes widening and mouth dropping open as she went further down. At one point, she set it on the table and grabbed her bookbag to pull out his books. Harry and Draco exchanged amused glances that didn't escape her attention, but she kept checking the information on the scroll against Lockhart's books. Finally, she growled wordlessly and dropped the books unceremoniously on the floor. "Absolute rubbish," she said, glaring at the books. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to teach."

"Hermione, have you been paying attention to anything but Lockhart's looks in class?" Neville asked, picking up her books and stacking them on the table beside her. "He doesn't know how to teach. We have first-hand evidence of that. Harry's a good enough actor - by the way, who gets that job in your class? - but seeing reenactments of what we've already read instead of learning the spells or learning more about the creatures is not going to prepare us for any real encounters."

"We all take turns in the reenactments," Hermione answered distractedly. "And okay, maybe he's not the best teacher, and maybe he lies about all the things in his books, but that doesn't mean he can't cast the spells! We just need to convince him to teach us the spells, that's all."

Draco sighed again. "Okay, I don't have any actual proof for this one, but my father says the only spell Lockhart is any good at is Obliviate. Not exactly something first-years can practice in the classroom, right?"

"No, we shouldn't try that on each other, but you don't have proof he isn't good at the other spells. I won't just write him off completely. I'll try talking to him after class. Maybe if we can just convince him to change his teaching method, he'll be a good teacher."

"Well, I for one want to come back to the original point," Harry interjected. "I think the only fair way to handle this is by a vote. Who here thinks that Draco is more attractive than Professor Lockhart?"

Less than a minute later, Hermione was glaring at Harry for getting them kicked out of the library. Just because nobody raised their hand in that ridiculous vote was no reason for the boy to roll around on the floor laughing so loudly!

* * *

"Uncle Lucius?"

The man smiled down at the boy he was really starting to consider as part of his family. "Yes, Harry?"

"What sort of snake is this?"

Lucius frowned. "I don't know. I'm not exactly an expert on snake breeds."

"Oh, okay," Harry said, sounding just the slightest bit disappointed. Lucius counted it a win that Harry felt comfortable enough with him to show some of his emotions, confident that the boy would still keep the appropriate formal front in public. "I just thought that since he was a magical creature, you'd know. But I guess that's silly. You've never said you were into animals. Hagrid is really the one I should ask."

The man suppressed a grimace. Harry's continued friendship with the half-giant was a bone of contention that Lucius tried to ignore and to which Harry remained oblivious. "You are quite correct that I don't know as much about animals as ... some others. However, I don't believe that snake is magical. Might I inquire as to what brought you to that conclusion?"

After a short moment of Harry thinking with his brow furrowed, the boy replied. "Well, since he was talking to me, I figured he had to be magical, right?"

"Talking to you?"

"Yeah." Harry looked down at the snake expectantly, then hissed at it. The snake hissed back at the boy, and Harry grinned up at Lucius. "See?"

Lucius stumbled backwards a step and sat quite suddenly, only distantly recognizing that there was no bench. "Harry?"

"Are you okay, Uncle Lucius?"

"Can you tell me what the snake just said to you?"

Harry looked at him with all the childlike innocence he didn't normally have. "He said, 'The large one isn't very fond of snakes, child.' Didn't you hear him?"

"I heard him," Lucius said faintly. "I heard him hissing. He's not magical, child. You are."

"Well, I know I'm magical, but people can't understand normal snakes, even if they're magical. Right?"

"Yes." Lucius dropped his head forward, leaning it against his knees, and took several very deep breaths. He felt Harry's hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay, Uncle Lucius? Should I call Aunt Narcissa or an elf to help you?"

Lucius waved a hand in dismissal, but Harry didn't seem to understand it. "Dobby!" When the elf popped into view, Harry continued. "There's something wrong with Uncle Lucius. Can you help him or get Aunt Narcissa or someone?"

"Dobby isn't knowing what's wrong, Young Mister Harry Potter, sir, but Professor Snape is being here and might be able to help. Should Dobby fetch him, sir?"

"Yes, please, Dobby," Lucius replied, and Harry sighed in relief.

Dobby returned moments later, holding Severus by the hand to bring him to Lucius as quickly as possible. As Lucius turned to Severus, squatting beside him to get a better look at him, he heard Harry speaking to Dobby again.

"Thanks for helping us," he told the elf. "I think that's all for now, but keep an ear out for anything Professor Snape might need to help Uncle Lucius, alright?"

"Dobby is glad to help Mister Harry Potter, sir!" The elf faded from view, and Lucius knew he was still nearby, waiting to hear if Severus needed anything, just as the boy had asked.

"He ... snake," Lucius said, wincing at his own lack of eloquence.

Severus turned to Harry with a raised eyebrow. "Mr. Potter?"

"We were talking about snakes," Harry explained. "I don't know what's wrong. He said this guy wasn't a magical snake even though I can understand him, and that's really when he freaked out."

Lucius thought vaguely about reprimanding the boy for his use of such common slang, but he was still caught on the fact that somehow he had managed to get close to _another_ Parselmouth.

"You were speaking with the snake?" Severus asked, and his hand landed on Lucius's knee, squeezing almost painfully. Lucius was impressed that the other man managed to keep his reaction contained other than that.

"Yeah. He lives in the smallest greenhouse, which is where I found him. He thinks one of the plants is sick, so I was taking him to talk to Lucius about it, but then I was curious what kind of snake he was so I guess I never brought up the plant at all."

Severus nodded slowly. "I can see how you got sidetracked. You ... which plant?"

Harry and the snake still draped across his shoulders held a brief hissed conversation, and Lucius suddenly found Severus leaning quite heavily against his legs. "He said it doesn't translate very well, but we call it something like human dragon? Man dragon? Human drake? It really doesn't translate well. English has a lot more words for the same things."

"Perhaps mandrake?" Severus offered, and the snake bobbed its head while hissing loudly.

"That's right. He says the head is okay but the body isn't growing. What does that mean?"

"I'm not Professor Sprout," Severus says faintly.

The snake hissed again, and Harry frowned as he answered.

"What's he saying now?" Lucius asked.

"That the head is exposed, so we shouldn't go in there unless he says it's asleep. Uncle Lucius, what kind of plant sleeps?"

Severus shook his head and interrupted. "Mr. Potter, that's something you'll learn about next year in Herbology. The more important thing right now is that you can talk to snakes."

"So he's not magical?"

"Decidedly not. You, however-"

"I know I'm a wizard!" Harry complained, on the verge of shouting. "But so are you and Uncle Lucius, and if you can't understand him, the 'You're magical, Harry,' argument doesn't make any sense!"

Severus frowned, and Harry subsided almost immediately. "You would do well to listen to the whole sentence before getting upset, Mr. Potter."

"Yes, sir. I know. I'm sorry for getting ahead of myself and yelling at you."

"Apology accepted. Now, as I was saying, the snake is not magical. You, however, have a special magical talent that is quite rare but allows you to understand and converse with snakes."

"Is that why Uncle Lucius reacted like that? Because it's rare?"

The two adults exchanged a long look. "Yes and no, Harry," Lucius said eventually. "That is one part of it. Another part is because we know you're descended from Gryffindor, but that trait is considered to be hereditary from the Slytherin line only. I'd like to do a genealogy ritual to find out how this happened, if you'll allow it."

"There is one more reason," Severus added. "However, I believe it is not necessary to speak of it right now. Rest assured, if Lucius or I have reason to believe you should know it, we will tell you immediately. Otherwise, you will know on your fifteenth birthday."

"Is it something bad?" Harry asked hesitantly, and Lucius reached for him. The boy stepped closer, allowing his adoptive uncle to rest a hand on his shoulder.

"It is nothing bad about you," Lucius told him.

"We knew someone with the same talent who is thought to be dead now."

Harry sighed. "The Dark Lord." When the men stared at each other in surprise, Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on. Draco and I aren't stupid. Every time you talk about a person but don't tell us who it is, it's the Dark Lord or one of his followers. We also know both of you are Death Eaters, by the way, so you can stop hiding your left arms. But the only person you'd say 'thought to be dead' about is the Dark Lord. The Death Eaters who died all had a body, right? And we've seen the Dark Lord. We know he's not dead, though most people think so." Harry reached up and squeezed the hand Lucius still had on his shoulder. "Uncle Lucius, I didn't know the Dark Lord could talk to snakes. I promise I'm not him or possessed by him or anything. I didn't mean to scare you. I won't talk to snakes around you - or you, Professor - if it would help."

* * *

"Mr. Potter, I would like to speak with you after class regarding a personal matter," Professor Lupin said after the first Slytherin/Ravenclaw Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Harry just sighed.

"Professor, really?" At the man's confused nod, Harry glanced around the room. "Everyone who is willing is asked to stay as witness. Professor, please show us the back of your head."

"And your left forearm," Draco added.

"I learned a spell to reveal spirits and possession," Hermione offered.

"I know one to reveal the Imperius curse,” Terry Boot said.

Theo Nott frowned but added his own knowledge. "I know how to reveal Dark magic short of the Unforgiveables."

Harry grinned. "I think that covers us pretty well."

Professor Lupin blinked in shock at the group of second years in front of him. "Did any of you learn any of this from either of your professors from last year?"

"Please," Draco scoffed, indicating himself and Nott. "You know our parents. For the rest of them, surely you've heard about what happened at the end of first term last year. We're not taking chances."

"Five points to each person who offered to help and ten additional points to anyone who successfully demonstrates their idea." Professor Lupin pulled up his left sleeve to show a scarred but un-Marked arm before turning around to show the back of his head, even using a hand to rub up and down to show that there was nothing under his hair. "Now, Miss Granger, I believe you were the first to propose a spell?"

She rose, Draco and Harry drawing their wands to flank her as she cast the spell. Lupin's eyebrows rose at their behavior, but he didn't say anything.

"It's clear."

"Miss Granger, you'll find that spell will work better with a shorter downwards jab," the professor offered. "Would you like to retry it?"

The results were the same, but Hermione looked pleased at the way the spell performed the second time.

"Before you begin looking for dark magic, I am going to have to reveal a secret," he said, reluctance strong on his face.

"You're a werewolf," Zabini said flatly.

"Everyone in our year knows."

"After what happened with Harry last year, we thought it best to share that information so we can keep an eye on you at the full moon."

"My father explained the conditions in your contract to keep us safe," Draco explained, "so we're not concerned about it as long as you keep to the contract."

"The spell I know defines the dark magic but doesn't identify dark creatures," Nott elaborated.

"But we all know that werewolves can't be any other dark creature at the same time."

"As a werewolf, you're resistant to the Imperius curse but not completely immune, so I'm checking anyway,” Terry Boot explained, raising his wand and stepping up to the front of the room between Harry and Draco.

The last two spells came up clear, and Professor Lupin took a moment to teach them one more that detected more subtle influences like Compulsion Charms and even Cheering Charms. He smiled around the room as everyone mastered the spell within three tries. "Your spellwork is superb," he complimented them. "Should I expect the same type of greeting from the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors?"

Draco snorted. "The Hufflepuffs probably, but who knows what the Gryffindors decided?"

"Anyway, Harry, are you satisfied that I mean you no harm?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Of course not! I'm satisfied that you're not marked or influenced by outside ... influences. That doesn't mean you don't want to hurt me for your own reasons."

"Paranoid but for good reason," Lupin mused. "Very well. If I surrender my wand to a classmate, would you agree to limiting the number of people who hear our discussion? I believe it is sufficiently private that you would prefer not everyone know."

"Are you planning to tell him about your classmates?" Draco asked suddenly. When the professor nodded, Draco turned to Harry. "I think you should take him up on that. Keep me and Hermione with you, have him cast a silencing ward, then get Blaise to hold his wand while he talks."

"Crabbe, Goyle, I want you in here with us, too," Harry said after a moment. "Professor Lupin, do you agree to our terms? Everyone else outside the silencing ward watching and able to cast through it in our defense if necessary?"

The professor agreed, cast the ward, and handed off his wand as promised. "Harry - I'm sorry, Minor Head Potter. I wanted to tell you that I went to school with your parents. I was in their year. One of your father's good friends, actually."

Harry blinked. "Is that the only information you wanted to share?"

"If that's all you want to know, I will not force anything else on you. If you'd like to know more, you can ask me at any time that I'm not teaching and you're not in class. Ah, I see you'd feel more comfortable with someone else with you, and that's fine with me. You have good reasons not to trust a new professor. I would hope that you'd start to feel safe with me, but it's okay if you don't."

"Did you know me when I was a baby?"

Professor Lupin's gentle smile turned utterly soft. "I did. You called me Mooey. Your father was trying to teach you to call me Uncle Moony, but your pronunciation wasn't quite there yet when- well."

"I'd like to take some time to think," Harry said slowly. "In the meantime, you can address me semi-formally outside of the classroom."

"I'm afraid I was not raised in the magical world and haven't exactly ever been a part of mainstream magical society," Professor Lupin said with a frown. "Could you remind me what that means?"

"Mr. Potter," Hermione explains. "Professors always use semiformal address in class to reinforce the distance and situational power they hold over students, but outside of class - assuming it's not a school-related matter - they're expected to speak formally if requested. It seems that most professors assume that all Slytherin students want formal address unless requested otherwise."

"I see," Lupin said. "Thank you, Mr. Potter, for offering that courtesy. I'm not sure what you'd feel comfortable calling me, but Professor or Mr. Lupin or even Remus or Moony is okay with me. I'd prefer we hold off on the Uncle title until we know each other better, though."

Harry nodded. "That's acceptable, Mr. Lupin. I'll have Blaise return your wand now." The boy turned and left the ward and then the classroom, his friends rushing to follow him.

* * *

"Everyone interested in joining the Slytherin Quidditch team, regardless of position, line up over here with your brooms! If you're sharing with someone else for the tryout, both of you stand together with the broom. No more than two people per broom. We'll do some basic flying exercises before adding in any of the balls."

Draco and Harry grinned at each other before joining the line with Draco's Nimbus 2001. They had already agreed to share it for the tryout, and Father was going to buy the new broom model for every member of the team if either one of them got on. Harry had been arguing - no, debating, Draco corrected himself - with Father about whether to get the brooms if neither of them made the cut. Draco agreed with Harry's point of view, that it would still benefit Slytherin to have the new brooms, but he also understood his father's financial reasoning. Having a Malfoy (or a Potter, as a formal ally of House Malfoy) leading the team on their new brooms, a generous donation from House Malfoy, would bring that same benefit to the House as well.

"If you're not sharing a broom, pair up with someone who is." Marcus Flint waiting until the students had done so, then nodded sharply. "Those of you to my left, mount up and follow Bole. Copy his movements as well as you can. After your lap is finished, you'll trade off with your partner to do the same thing. I will let you know if you're eliminated from that. The rest of you will then do more and more complex drills in smaller and smaller groups until I'm satisfied those remaining can handle the balls."

Draco followed the rather basic moves without concern, but he noticed several of the other hopefuls falter. Flint eliminated every flier that Draco had noted before sending the second group on the same course. Draco grinned as Harry similarly had no issues, leaning against the stands beside Neville.

"I still don't see how either of you can enjoy flying so much."

He shrugged. "I don't see how you can enjoy plants so much."

Neville grinned. "To each their own."

"Round two!"

Draco waved to Neville as he jogged back to the group at Flint's call.

"Groups of three this time. Bole will lead you on a more complicated course. If you can't keep his speed, go ahead and drop out. Keep working on your flying and we'll have tryouts again next year. Got it?"

A ragged chorus of cheers greeted the captain, and Draco waved for Harry to go in the first group. He mounted up directly behind Bole with Zabini and Johnson following in the same group. At Flint's nod, Bole took off much faster than the initial test. Draco wandered back to Neville.

"I couldn't do that," the younger boy said.

"Which is why you're not trying out for Quidditch."

"Very true. Oh Merlin, is he really- How is that safe!"

Draco laughed as Bole led the group in a high-speed swerving course in and out of the goals, causing Zabini to land as he fell farther and farther behind. "It's much safer than a Bludger, Neville."

"There's nobody to Beat the goals, though!"

Draco let out a totally undignified snort at that observation, but a sudden shout from the other prospective players grabbed his attention before he could reply. The students were pointing at what was unmistakably a Bludger flying straight for the three still in the air, completely ignoring those on the ground and Zabini coming in for a landing. Bole dove under it with a shouted curse at Flint, who started shouting to see who had released the ball from its chest. Draco turned to the chest with a sense of foreboding. It was still locked in place, but there was a shattered side where the Bludger now on the loose had slammed its way out.

"Aren't those protected by really powerful charms?" he asked Neville, nudging him, but the other boy was pointing at the sky with his hand pressed over his mouth.

Bole's dodge of the Bludger had been perfect and gotten him free of the Bludger's line of fire, and the other two had clearly followed the same path. Johnson was now hovering beside an immobile Bole, and Harry was weaving erratically through the air with the Bludger on his tail.

"There's something wrong with that Bludger!" Draco exclaimed, grabbing Neville's shoulder as he watched it follow Harry's every move despite the others in the air. Several of the other students seemed to have the same realization; three of the older boys took off to try to intercept the rogue Bludger while another was opening the ball chest to retrieve a bat before joining them in the air.

"Draco!" Neville gasped. "What do we do?"

Draco could only watch helplessly as Harry led the Bludger through the crowd of older students only for it to continue to follow him. "Can we undo whatever curse is on it?"

"I don't think even Hermione could!"

"They have all the bats in the air now," Draco remarked, looking frantically around for anything that might be able to serve as a Beater bat so he could help his best friend. As Harry swerved sharply to let the Bludger impact the stadium only for the ball to tear through the magically reinforced wood and return to chasing him, Draco quickly changed his mind. "Maybe we can curse it out of the sky if it gets close enough?"

Neville looked from his wand to Draco with disbelief etched on his face. "We're not horrible students, but do you really think you can hit the Bludger and not Harry?"

Draco tucked his wand away again. "I'm out of ideas, Neville!"

A loud crack echoed through the air, and Draco shouted wordlessly as Harry swerved dangerously to the side, entering a sharp spiral toward the ground. "What did it hit?" His broom seemed to slide out from under Harry in two distinct pieces, answering his question for him.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Neville shouted, his wand pointed at Harry, and Draco whipped his own wand out as they both ran onto the pitch.

"Reducto!" The curse bounced harmlessly off the ball, but the other students all pulled their wands and added their own reductors until the ball exploded, just inches from where Harry had landed.

"Harry!"

"I'm okay," the boy answered, wiggling his arms and legs as Draco dropped to his knees beside him.

"Are you sure?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I saw you getting everyone to explode the stupid ball, so yeah, I'm fine. Er, but I kind of broke your broom."

"I don't care about the broom!" Draco yelled, suddenly aware that his pitch and tone were rising together. "And don't think you're joining the quidditch team, either! You just fell a really long way!"

"Neville apparently levitated me, so I didn't fall that fast for the last bit. He slowed me down enough that I think I just have a bruised bum."

Draco narrowed his eyes, then grabbed Harry's arm and raised it over the boy's head. "Neville saved your life."

"Oh, no."

"Oh, yes. You have a great big lion the length of your arm."

Neville poked the lion. "Does it hurt?"

"Yes!" Harry snatched his arm back and glared at both of them. "It's a bright red, freshly-healed scar! Of course it hurts!"

The Hufflepuff looked concerned and guilty. "I didn't realize, Harry. It looks more like a drawing, since I know there wasn't anything there earlier. It doesn't really seem like a scar to me. I'm sorry I hurt you."

Harry sighed. "You saved my life, Neville. My magic is the thing that keeps making stupid scars about it. I'm not mad about you causing a scar or even poking it after your heroics."

"Can I poke it then, too?" Draco asked, forcing a hopeful look onto his face. "I blew up a Bludger for you!"

The others around them all started laughing, and Draco felt some of the tension in him leave, his joking becoming more natural.

"You poked your dragon last year. One poke per person, and only on the scar they caused."

* * *

"Alright, snakes of Hogwarts, listen up!" Harry yelled in Parseltongue in the corridor, causing most of the nearby students to jump and stare at him in fright. The other Slytherins in his year closed ranks around him and pulled out their wands for good measure. "Whoever just said that rot about killing, tell me right now what species you plan to kill!" He didn't really feel like starting his second year at Hogwarts with any sort of mass murder, even if it was just of the cats in the castle, so it was better safe than sorry, really.

There was a long silence, none of the humans even daring to speak as Harry looked around expectantly.

"Anything I see," came a voice from the wall across the corridor. Harry hurried over to it. "All meat is food."

"Can you tell different species apart?" Harry asked.

"Yes," the snake said slowly.

"Do you understand that I can talk to every snake in the castle to find out where you live?"

There was another pause. "Yes."

"Do you believe that I will be happy if you kill me or any of my friends?"

"No, wizard."

"Do you think you're smart enough to figure out who are my friends and who aren't?"

There was an even longer pause. "All meat is food," the snake answered eventually.

"All meat is not food!" Harry yelled. "Answer me! Can you tell the difference between individual humans? Can you decide who should live and who should die if you don't want to anger me?"

"No, wizard," the snake said finally, and Harry thought it sounded almost sullen.

"Can you tell apart humans and other animals?"

"Yes."

Harry grinned, triumphant. "If you want to stay alive, you'll leave all the humans uninjured. I will not object to you hunting other species, but I won't help you, either. Is this an acceptable compromise?"

"Almost, wizard," the snake said. "I will hunt in the forest. However, I kill my prey by looking at them. If a human interrupts my hunt, I will not close my eyes and go hungry just to spare them for you."

"Agreed," Harry said. "I will tell the humans of our arrangement. Go now."

"Yes, wizard." There was a short silence, and then the snake spoke again. "Wizard?"

"Yes, snake?"

"It has been so long since I have spoken with a human."

Harry smiled to himself. "I will talk to you sometimes, here in the castle like we are now, if you keep to our agreement."

"I will return to this spot in three days time."

Harry nodded, then turned to Draco and said in English, "Tell Dobby that I've dealt with the danger at Hogwarts and he can stop trying to give me cryptic warnings every time he sees me."

* * *

"Her name is Helga," Harry said, propping his feet up on Draco's lap. "She says Salazar Slytherin named her that as a joke. Anyway, some Gryffindor can speak Parseltongue, too, so that's why she woke up in the first place. Whoever it is found where she lives - the Chamber of Secrets, if you were wondering - and told her it was time to work."

Draco stopped in the middle of pushing Harry's feet of his lap. "Did she tell you where the Chamber of Secrets is?"

Harry grinned at his friend. "Yep," he said, popping the P satisfyingly. The noise usually drove Draco crazy, but the other boy ignored it in the face of Slytherin's greatest secret.

"Well, come on, what are you waiting for! Let's go exploring!"

Harry shrugged. "Well, I thought I'd wait until there wasn't a thousand-year-old basilisk in the Chamber, but hey, if you want to die, go right ahead!"

Draco shuddered. "No, okay, I can wait. Hey, we should take Uncle Severus with us, too. He really deserves to be one of the first people to see the lost Chamber of Secrets."

"Okay, but you're in charge of getting us permission," Harry replied.

* * *

"Excuse me!" Harry said to the small girl he'd just bumped into. "Ah, sorry. Let me help you pick up your things."

The youngest Weasley nodded silently as Harry shoved her books haphazardly back into her bag and handed it to her.

"Have a good day, Daughter Weasley," he called to her back as she walked away. "She's weird even by that family's standards," he said to Draco, only to get a punch in the arm from another of his friends. "Oi, Ron, what's that for!"

"I heard you call my sister weird," the boy answered with a shrug. "It seemed appropriate."

Harry laughed, then showed Ron a small black book. "How long has Ginny had this?"

Ron shrugged, but Draco gasped. "That's my father's!"

"Not if it was in my sister's bag!"

"Well, neither of them is getting it back," Harry said firmly. "It feels ... off, sort of wrong, but in a familiar way. Don't look at me that way; I don't know what that means any more than you do! Come on, I'm taking it to Mr. Snape. He'll know what to do with it."

* * *

"I don't understand you sometimes, Harry," Draco said, leaning back against the headboard of his bed. The Exploding Snap cards fluttered into a pile between the two boys. "Why does that bloody elf serve you better than its own family?"

Harry rolled his eyes as he slid over to lean against the post at the bottom corner of the bed. "Simple. First, I don't say 'that bloody elf' to refer to Dobby. Second, I use the correct pronouns - he, not it, if you were wondering. Third, I actually tell him what I want him to do instead of making him guess and then punishing him for not reading my mind. You get better results from anyone if they know what you want. Finally, I'm nice to him."

Draco scoffed. "You can't be nice to servants. How will they remember their place?"

"Do you know why house elves serve wizards?" Harry asked, crossing his ankles in front of him.

"Because we're better than them."

"Do you serve your father?"

"Of course not!"

Harry let a sly smile creep onto his face. "Does that mean you're better than him? Or perhaps you believe yourself to be his equal?"

Draco sputtered for a moment, then glared at his friend. "Okay, Harry, I'll play your game. Why do house elves serve wizards?"

"Why wouldn't you ask an elf that question? Surely it's better to get it straight from the source."

Draco ground his teeth. "Fine. Dobby!" When the small elf popped into the room, Draco started talking before Dobby could even bow. "Why do house elves serve wizards?"

Dobby straightened proudly, tears gathering in his eyes. "Master Draco, sir, we serves wizards because when we bond to a wizard, our lifespans get longer. We give some of our magic to the wizard, and in return we get to live longer. More of our children live to adulthood if both parents are bound to wizards. Some elves say it is because the wizard gives some of their life to the elves, but Dobby doesn't think so, sir. Dobby sees that wizards with elves live just as long as wizards without elves, but the elves with wizards live longer than elves without wizards. It is like elves with wizards have just as much magic as elves without wizards, but wizards with elves have more magic than wizards without elves.

"Dobby also knows that elves with wizards are happier, sir, because we have a purpose in our lives. Dobby knows that every living creature wants a purpose. For house elves who choose to bind with wizards, the purpose is taking care of the wizards and their families and their houses and their gardens. Dobby finds purpose in taking care of young Master Draco from when he is born and hopes to take care of Master Draco's children when they are born, too. Shanty finds purpose in keeping every surface of Master Lucius's suites and office spotless. Jonly find purpose in cooking the best foods she can find, sir. We all find our purpose in making our wizards happy and strong."

The elf stood tall and proud, chest out, hands clasped behind his back as Draco looked down at him with his mouth gaping. After a long moment, Harry stepped in.

"Thank you, Dobby. I think that's all we need for right now, but one of us will call you if you can help us more, of course."

"Yes, young Master Harry. Dobby will be here when he is called, sir." The elf popped away, and Draco turned his attention back to Harry.

"Is that all true?"

Harry nodded. "I looked into it at school, too, in the library. There have been studies done. The happier the elf is, the stronger the wizard's magic is. The healthier the wizard is, the longer the elf lives. If it's a direct bond, like for a personal elf, it's more obvious. If they're bound to the whole House, or to a few members of the House, the effects settle across all of the people and elves in the bond."

"Malfoys have been more powerful than Weasleys for generations," Draco said slowly. "Are you telling me that's because of our serv- because of our elves? Because we can afford to buy elves to bond to us?"

"In part, yes. The Weasleys wouldn't be able to keep an elf, anyway, from what I hear. At least, not keep the elf happy. Ron says his mother likes to do all the cooking and cleaning. What would an elf do? They wouldn't be very happy, so the power effects wouldn't be much to start with, and then it would be divided seven ways - for each person living in the house. Now, with that many healthy people in the house, the effects for the elf would be astronomical, but without purpose nobody's life is going to be worth the gain of more time alive."

Draco frowned, clearly thinking it over.

"Anyway, you got me thinking a few minutes ago, before Dobby came in. Remember that I said you get better results from people if they know what you want?"

"Yeah...."

Harry grinned. "I think it's time we make our power in Slytherin a little more ... official. What do you say?"

"What were you thinking?" Draco narrowed his eyes as Harry summoned Dobby back into the room, sent the elf to retrieve a parchment from Harry's desk, and sent the elf away again.

"Well, you and I together have the political and financial power to rule all of Slytherin. Even without trying very hard or really laying down our expectations, we have the firsties, our year, and even the third and fourth years - and some fifth years - following our lead. Surely you've noticed that it's only the NEWT-level students who still use 'Mudblood'?" When Draco nodded, Harry showed him the parchment. "I say we make that an official rule of Slytherin. I've already talked to Mr. Snape about it, and if we present him with a formal proposal after break, we can do this."

"No student shall use pejorative terms based on blood status or friendliness with those of certain blood statuses outside of private, in-dorm conversations. Any student struggling in any class will have offered to them tutoring and special assistance from other Slytherins. ... On the power of the Potter and Malfoy future Heads? Harry, what is this?"

Harry looked steadily at Draco. "We are the only two in the entire Slytherin house with true power outside of Hogwarts. Sure, others have a bit of power, but even if they all joined together, I believe we would win - and there's no way every single other Slytherin would join together. With your connections to Mr. Snape and through your father to the Hogwarts Board of Governors, and with my connections with the press and Mr. Lupin and even Headmaster Dumbledore, we have all the power we need while in Hogwarts. If we take our power now, we can change Slytherin's reputation and open the doors for more of us to get where we want to be. Would anyone turn us down for a favor if we help them get into a position of power? Not to mention changing the face of the upcoming war. Our year all knows that the Dark Lord will be coming back. If we make it clear now, before a war starts, that Slytherin doesn't mean evil, we'll be much better off.

"But Draco, if we wait too much longer, we won't be able to take control of the house. We pretty much have to move now or miss our chance at gaining major power. Control Slytherin now, and we'll come out of Hogwarts into a very different political setting. Control Slytherin now, and we'll control all of magical Britain by the time we're 30."

"I can see why the Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin," Draco muttered finally. "Ambition to spare."

"And a cunning plan to see it through."

The blond boy read over the parchment again. "Take our names off this. We'll have Uncle Severus say there's a new house policy and then have us introduce it and hang the parchment. More subtle, more effective. We should run this by Father first, too."

"Draco...." Harry looked down and fiddled with the blanket beneath him. "Your father needs to pick a side."

"I don't know that he will yet," Draco replied in a whisper.

"It's not going to change things between you and me, what he picks. I just ... this will work better if he backs us up, and I know my side."

"I'm with you," Draco said, barely audible. "Merlin help me, but I'm on your side, Harry. Whatever that diary was that you took from the Weasley girl, it wasn’t good, and my father gave it to her. I won’t be that person when I grow up. You’re … Harry, you’re the only person I trust to make sure I don’t become that. To keep me a good person."

“Your father might not be a bad person,” Harry said.

Draco sighed. “He’s not a good person yet, though. Do you think maybe we can…."

“We can show him how to be a better person,” Harry promised. “It’s up to him what he does, but we can be here for him and show him the way and help him if he decides to change. I won’t turn him in unless he does something really bad, Draco, I promise. He’s family to me, too. Maybe if we both … Maybe he’ll come over to our side in the end."

“Maybe,” Draco whispered, looking uncertain.

* * *

"Harry? Mr. Malfoy? Severus? Headmaster?" Remus looked at the odd group parading past him. "Where are you heading?"

Harry stopped and grinned at him. "Oh, nowhere special. Just the Chamber of Secrets. Want to come?"

"Honestly, Potter," Severus said in a tone that Remus was sure was mostly fondness and respect covered by complaining.

"I don't think Salazar Slytherin would want TWO Gryffindors exploring his hideout," Mr. Malfoy added.

"Nah, it'll be fine. Besides, Helga says she doesn't mind."

"Helga?" Remus asked the boy, locking his office door behind him and joining the group as they continued walking.

Harry laughed. "Salazar Slytherin wasn't too fond of Helga Hufflepuff, so he named his basilisk after her as a joke. Helga the basilisk lives in the Chamber of Secrets, but she says she doesn't mind you coming with us. Actually, she's more concerned about meeting the Headmaster."

"I don't intend to harm her unless she proves to be a threat to the students or others in the castle," the Headmaster replied in a voice that said quite clearly he'd told Harry this before.

"She's just nervous that you'll decide ... Helga, honestly. I'm not going to tell him that."

"Is she here?" Remus asked, suddenly concerned.

"In the wall," Harry said, gesturing vaguely to their left. "She's leading us to the entrance, but once we're in there, she's going to stay hidden so she can't accidentally hurt anyone. Well, she can't hurt me - apparently Parselmouths are protected against basilisk eyes - but I sort of doubt any of you would let me meet her alone."

"Absolutely not!" Mr. Malfoy and Severus proclaimed at the same time, and Remus laughed.

"I would be willing to meet her with you, if she promised to keep her eyes closed," Remus offered.

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid not, boys. Perhaps in the future."

"Harry, are you trying to be a Gryffindor?" Mr. Malfoy hissed, and Remus laughed again.

"Er, Headmaster, perhaps you could make sure nobody's in there?" Harry asked, coming to a halt suddenly. "It's a girl's loo."

Dumbledore cast a spell Remus didn't recognize, then nodded. "Only Myrtle, who is a ghost and therefore decently attired. Severus, if you would affix a sign to the door warning potential users that we will be in here?"

"Myrtle? It's Remus," he called, sticking his head through the door. "I have some friends with me who would like to meet you and use a secret passage in here. Can we come in?"

"Remus?" she answered, floating through the door to look at the whole group. "It's been YEARS since you visited me! You look old!"

He sighed internally. "I graduated, Myrtle, remember?"

"Oh, yes. Well, you came back now. You can come in, but your friends had better be nice."

"Myrtle?" Harry said tentatively. "Er, my friend Helga says that she killed you fifty years ago, and she's sorry about it. Apparently basilisks absorb the moral code of whoever they talk with the most, so she didn't know it was wrong until now."

The ghost blinked at the group. "Oh."

"She promises that she won't hurt you again or kill anyone else unless they try to attack Hogwarts."

"Well. You can all come in, then," the ghost said, floating back to her stall quietly as Remus held the door open for the group to enter the loo.

Harry led them over to the sinks, where he hissed at one of the taps. When Remus turned back from the door, there was a huge opening in front of them. He stepped forward to jump into the hole and lead the way down, in case there was something in there besides a deadly basilisk, but Harry held him back. "Wait, Mr. Lupin. Helga has a better way." He hissed again, and a small platform appeared in the opening. "Ready?"

The platform conjured an armchair for each person who stepped onto it and enlarged itself to fit them all comfortably - without taking up more room; Remus made a mental note to investigate the spellwork on it when their journey was done. As soon as Dumbledore joined them, looking a bit put out that the platform didn't place his seat at the front, Harry hissed another quiet command, and the platform sped downwards, gliding through spirals and curves without slowing in the slightest. They burst out of the tunnel before long, and another quiet hiss from Harry brought up lights on either side of the cavern they now found themselves in.

"This is the outer chamber," Harry explained. "There are some chambers off of it - hmm. Helga says the whole thing is often called the Chamber of Secrets, but really only her home should be. Salazar Slytherin considered her the secret weapon in case of invasion, and that's why he called her home the Chamber of Secrets. It's the hardest to get into."

"Parselmouth to get in the entrance above wasn't hard enough?" Remus asked, amused.

Harry twisted from his front row seat to make a face at Remus, making the werewolf glad their relationship was improving enough that he felt comfortable doing so. "There are four entrances to this outer chamber. Each founder made their own. Apparently that's been lost to history, too."

"So the descendants of each founder could get into this outer chamber?" Dumbledore asked from his seat at the back of the platform.

"Helga says magical descendants only. She knows where the other three entrances are but won't tell me unless I'm translating for the proper magical heir."

"Perhaps we should make some effort to find these people," Severus murmured from beside Remus, and he nodded.

"What sort of access do the magical heirs have?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry turned back to face the front of the platform. "Well, magical heirs are the only ones who can open the entrances, but they can let anyone down to this chamber. Er, and it can expand to allow for complete evacuation of the school here, though it's not equipped for a length stay. Helga says Ravenclaw's plan was to evacuate to here, remove the apparition ward from this chamber only, and take the students to their homes or to safe houses.

"Gryffindor's defenses are open to anyone with a certain magical strength, but nobody in three hundred years with sufficient strength has attempted to get in. Hufflepuff's are open to anyone at all, but again, nobody in three hundred years. Ravenclaw has two defenses. The private library ... Helga says it's complicated, but nobody's been in in five hundred years. There's also a strategy room that Gryffindor liked to claim was his but was really Ravenclaw's. That's open to everyone though only usable by a headmaster, head of house, or someone specifically given leave by one of those five people. Three of them together can override permissions for one of those automatically allowed, and two together can override permissions for someone else."

"What does that mean?" Mr. Malfoy asked.

"I don't know. I'm just repeating what Helga says. Er, she'll explain the permissions another time, or it's somewhere that the five automatic people can access but nobody else can, in the main castle."

Severus nodded. "I am aware of this."

"As am I," Dumbledore agreed.

Remus laughed. "And I'm not, so it seems nothing has changed since Helga was told about this."

"She says thanks, Remus. She's glad to know that."

"You're welcome, Helga."

"Anyway, which chamber do you want to see? I'll take the platform in there. Helga's made this main chamber a bit of a mess, and the house elves aren't allowed down to clean this without specific orders from the current headmaster of the school each time."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Please ask Helga if she would like it cleaned."

"She can hear you, Professor," Mr. Malfoy said. "She understands us just fine, and she's actually paying attention to us while we're here."

"Of course. Helga, is it safe for me to send down house elves?"

There's a long silence, then Harry hisses a few times in what's clearly a short conversation in Parseltongue before he turns in his armchair to face Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Professor ... please don't get mad at me, okay? She wants me to say exactly what she said without ... tidying it up."

Remus glanced back to see Dumbledore nod at Harry, only the slightest tightening around his eyes giving away his unhappiness.

"What sort of headmaster are you to think that I would attack beings so treasured by the school? They only need to pop down with their eyes closed and give me five seconds to be sure my own eyes are closed, if I happen to be in the same chamber. If I'm having difficulty getting out of their way, they can guide me out with their voices without fear. I'm very insulted that you think I'm dangerous when all I'm doing is protecting the school and working with the young Snake Speaker to get rid of the evil that is the last Snake Speaker. I'm of half a mind to get rid of you as soon as the last Snake Speaker is gone. The only thing stopping me now is this young Snake Speaker's moral code that somehow still believes you're acceptable. Rest assured you are on thin ice, Headmaster. You are not welcome to visit this chamber alone until you change your ways."

Remus gaped openly as Dumbledore's face showed surprise, then fear, then anger at this speech that Harry delivered in a perfect monotone. He was sure Harry had noticed the reaction, as well; the sounds of a boy turning back in his armchair were unmistakable. "Anyway, is there a room anyone particularly wants to see? Gryffindor's weapons room, Ravenclaw's library, Helga's home, Ravenclaw's strategy room, Hufflepuff's ... whatever it is?"

"I, for one, am interested in the strategy room," Remus said into the somewhat tense silence. "It would be very useful to have an idea of what defenses the founders of the school had in mind."

"Okay!" Harry hissed at their platform, and they moved towards the third door to their left. "Let's explore!"

* * *

Harry leaned back in his chair as he finished jotting down the last of their brainstorming ideas for the Transfiguration homework. He breathed out deeply, then decided this may be the best chance he had to bring up the subject that had been on his mind for a month or so. "Hey, Neville, I have a question for you. It might be a bit personal, so if you don't want to answer it.... Well, I guess I'll just ask, and then you can always say no, right?"

"Sure thing, Harry.” Neville looked a bit puzzled; the group of friends had shared almost everything at this point. There wasn’t a lot Harry would really consider too personal to ask - at least of the other boys.

"Well, I was looking up some of the formal stuff, because I'm still learning."

Draco jumped in when Harry hesitated. "Harry, you know you can ask me that, too, right? No offense to Regent Head Longbottom, but I think I've had a better training in that from a younger age than Neville did."

Harry shrugged, uncomfortable. "Yeah, but it's sort of about Neville, so I thought he'd be the one to ask. Especially since it might be personal."

"How is formal stuff personal?” Ron asked, brow furrowed. "And Mr. Malfoy, can I learn some of the formal stuff from you, too?"

"I guess so, Mr. Weasley.” The two still weren’t friends, but they were both friends with Harry, Neville, and Hermione, and they were being very careful to keep it friendly between them in the spirit of the Generational Feud Truce they had finally finalized at the end of the previous school year.

Harry met Neville’s eyes and continued slowly. "It’s about your grandmother, Neville, and about you, I guess. See, I get the whole Regent Head thing when there's a Minor Head - what I read said I'm sort of the exception to not have a Regent Head while I'm still a minor - but you're still just a Scion. Who's the Head, and why is there a Regent Head?” He definitely wasn’t going to ask straight out where Neville’s father was. He knew the boy was raised by his grandmother, the Regent Head Longbottom, but he’d never heard of Neville's parents and was not going to bring it up directly. Neville could explain that if he wanted with this as a sort of segue, or he could keep it technical and formal, or he could refuse to answer at all. Harry hoped he’d been able to keep the question open enough for whatever Neville decided was best for him.

Ron broke in before Neville could speak. "I know there'd be a Regent Head if the Head was away for a long time and couldn't handle the day to day business. Dad was Regent Head for a while, actually while he was still Scion, too. His dad was on some sort of spirit quest for almost a year in the colonies, so Dad had to handle any day to day business of House Weasley."

"True, but didn't he become Head then?” Draco asked, brow furrowed just a bit as he tried to recall the history of a House his father hadn’t deemed as important in lessons.

Ron laughed. "Yeah, his dad died on that spirit quest. Everyone says it was really suspicious, even Dad. Nobody ever looked into it too closely or tried to say Dad couldn’t take the Headship, though."

“Guys."

Draco winced. "Apologies, Neville."

"Sorry, mate,” Ron added.

"It's okay if you don't want to answer,” Harry rushed to clarify.

"No, it's fine,” Neville said slowly. "If anyone should know, it's you, Harry. And Ron, you're my friend, too."

"I can leave,” Draco offered quietly, his formal mask firmly in place. Harry was sure there was hurt hiding beneath it.

“What?” Neville asked, then gasped. “Oh, no, Draco, you’re my friend, too! I just meant that you probably already know."

The relief was obvious to Harry, and probably to the rest of his friends as well, as Draco answered. "I do. Would you rather I tell them?"

"I'd rather hear it from Neville or not at all, I think. If you're not ready to tell us, it's okay, mate."

Neville nodded at Harry, then his face hardened with resolve. “Now or never, I think. Someone go find Hermione. She should hear it from me, too."

"I'll check the library,” Draco said quickly, clearly eager to make up for his earlier interruption.

"I'll go to her common room,” Ron offered.

"I'll ... wait here, I guess. I can't think of anywhere else she'd be on a Saturday afternoon.” Harry looked at Neville questioningly, and the other boy shrugged and laughed.

"Yeah, that's true. Actually, we should go to the kitchens and get some tea or something."

Harry grinned. "You know where the kitchens are?” That was exactly the sort of information he needed. He followed Neville out of their classroom, putting a light protection ward on the door - just enough for the others in the castle to recognize that students were using that room to study and not disturb their things or take it over in their absence.

“Of course. Helga Hufflepuff told me how to get in, too. Doesn't Slytherin talk to you?"

"You mean, Salazar Slytherin? How would he talk to me?"

Neville looked almost confused as he replied. "There’s a portrait of Helga in the common room. She said every common room was intended to have one of their founder. Well, she says Ravenclaw's portrait is in a little study off of the common room, and she thinks Gryffindor's is too."

"I haven't seen or heard of Slytherin's portrait at all.” He was definitely going to be looking for the man now, though. Neville stopped in front of a painting of a bowl of fruit and reached out to tickle the pear. Hufflepuff was probably the one who devised that particular protection, Harry decided. It was too weird for Slytherin or Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor would probably want students to battle a troll or something to get a snack. Neville grasped the handle that the pear turned into and opened the painting, leading the way into a massive kitchen full of house elves.

"Excuse me, could we get a tea service for five?” he asked the elves.

One elf came out of the crowd, setting a tray of pitchers on a nearby table. "Of course, Masters Gryffindor! Do you be wanting it in the room you was just in?"

"That'd be great,” Harry answered, wondering if he or Neville would be called something different if they didn’t show up together.

"We is bringing it when you is back in that room, Masters Gryffindor,” the elf said with a firm nod.

Another elf levitated a pot large enough to hold Harry and Neville with room to spare onto a nearby stove. "You can be calling for any Hogwarts elf, Masters Gryffindor,” he added. "We is not allowed to appear for students in common rooms or the Great Hall or during a class unless there's an emergency, but we is happy to be serving you like this. Masters Gryffindor don’t be going hungry when they study!"

Neville shared a grin with Harry. "Do you have a name?” he asked.

"Mopsy isn't usually working in the kitchens, Masters Gryffindor, but you can just be calling 'Hogwarts elf' and one of us is coming straight to you.” Mopsy looked a little down at the thought of not being called directly by the two students.

"Thanks, Mopsy.” Harry wasn’t sure how to cheer the elf up, but asking what he usually did was probably not the way to go.

"Yeah, thanks,” Neville agreed. "That's very helpful to know. You're a very good elf."

Mopey brightened. "Masters Gryffindor be thinking Mopsy is good elf?"

"Well, yeah. You're helping us.” Harry grimaced at his wording and tone. Uncle Lucius would not be pleased if he heard Harry sounding so informal and uneducated in front of unknown elves.

"Masters Gryffindor be very nice to Mopsy,” the first elf said, bowing to the boys. "Mopsy, you be taking their tea service when they is back in the room."

"Thank you, Masters Gryffindor! Thank you, Telly!” Mopsy looked like he wanted to jump up and down but was barely containing himself.

"We'll see you soon then, Mopsy. Thanks, Telly.” Both elves bowed as the boys left the kitchen, shutting the painting firmly behind them

"So you don't know where Slytherin's portrait is?” Neville asked as they headed back up to the classroom they had been in.

Harry shook his head. “Not a clue. I'll have to ask around or look for it. I wonder what cool things he could tell me!"

"Just so you don't let him get all your dormmates riled up about Muggleborns,” Neville warned. “You and Draco have worked wonders in Slytherin, and I’d hate to have it all undone by the founder, especially since he might not know what the world’s like these days if he’s been hidden away for a while."

"Can you hex a painting?” Harry asked with an internal grimace.

"That sounds like a question for Hermione,” Neville said, grinning conspiratorially.

"What sounds like a question for me?” Hermione asked, coming around a corner with Draco to join them.

"If you don't know the answer, you don't get to run off to the library right away to look it up. We're here for a reason,” Draco told her warningly.

"A reason you wouldn't tell me!"

"It's not for me to tell."

Neville rolled his eyes and interrupted their typical light bickering before they got completely distracted. "That’s the whole point you're here. I’m the one telling something."

"Ron should be back in a minute,” Harry added. "He went to check your common room. Here, this is the room we were in.” He disabled his ward and held the door open, following the others into their classroom.

Hermione sat at an open desk and turned back to Harry. "What was the question for- Oh! What- I mean, who are you?"

Mopsy bowed to Hermione. "I is being Mopsy, Miss Student. Masters Gryffindor asked me to bring some tea and sandwiches for your talk."

"Mopsy is a house elf, Hermione. He works at Hogwarts,” Neville explained.

"I've never seen a ... house elf before."

"We is usually quiet and invisible when doing our works, Miss Student."

"What do you do?” Hermione looked absolutely fascinated. Harry made a mental note to explain the nature of the bond they made with wizards before she could get upset about slavery. After a moment of reflection, he made another mental note to ask Mopsy to whom the Hogwarts elves were bound. Not even a powerful wizard like Headmaster Dumbledore could supply enough magical energy to sustain the number of elves they’d seen in the kitchen, and binding them to each headmaster as they came into office seemed like a lot of work. Not to mention the kind of havoc an unscrupulous headmaster could cause just by ordering them to move against a less preferred House or group of students!

"Mopsy, could you talk to Hermione another time about what you and the other elves do?” Neville asked the elf. "Sorry, Hermione. It's just that I'd like to go ahead and tell my story now before I lose my nerve."

Mopsy bowed low to Neville. "Mopsy is glad to, Master Gryffindor.” He turned to Hermione and offered another bow, though it wasn’t as deep. "Miss Student just need to be going to a room all alone and calling Mopsy's name."

Hermione looked unsatisfied but resigned. "Okay. Thanks, Mopsy."

"Miss Student is very welcome. Do Masters Gryffindor be needing anything else?"

"Hey, sandwiches!” Ron exclaimed as he came into the room, dropping into his previously vacated seat and completely overlooking the house elf. Harry wasn’t sure if it was purposeful or just that the other boy was focused on the food. "And you found Hermione. Awesome."

"I think that's all, Mopsy. Thanks again,” he told the elf with a smile, and Mopsy bowed once again before popping out of the room, presumably back to the kitchen to continue whatever job he was doing before they interrupted.

Draco glanced around, then started an introductory explanation as he took his seat. "The reason we're here is a question Harry asked Neville about the formal address and how his House is being run right now. It's kind of a personal thing, and Neville wanted to tell everyone his story himself all at once. I found you so he didn't have to repeat it to you and so you could hear it from him instead of from someone else."

"What question, Harry?"

After a nod from Neville, Harry started to explain. "Well, you know how he's a Scion and his gran is the Regent Head?"

"Yes! I was looking that up the other day, too."

"He said he'd explain it to those of us who don't know already.” Harry turned to Neville, but Hermione interrupted again.

"Does someone know already?"

Draco nodded. "It wasn't my story to tell, like I said."

"Thanks for keeping it to yourself, Draco,” Neville said quietly but sincerely.

"Of course."

"Okay, well, obviously I'm the Scion as the oldest name-carrying child in the direct Longbottom line of inheritance."

"Name-car- Never mind. Later.” Hermione shook her head as though to force herself to focus on what Neville wanted to share.

“Thanks. Okay. So that makes my father the Head. Gran can't be the Head because she just married into the name, but she can be Regent Head while waiting for me to come of age."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I got all that from the books, but that's usually for a Minor Head like me, except all my direct line is ... well, they can't do it. But I've not seen it for a Scion."

"It can only happen if the Head isn't able to do the job and ... can't pass on the title officially. I'm supposed to sue in front of the Wizengamot for the title of Head Longbottom when I come of age, but I think I'm going to just take Regent Head instead."

"I thought it went to the older generation if possible,” Hermione said in a tone somewhere between a question and a statement.

Neville shrugged. "I don't think Gran would say no if I asked her to pass it to me instead of me suing. I just think it's more respectful to my father, and if I put it that way I think she'll agree to it."

"So your father's the Head but can't do the job or pass it on officially, so you're Scion and your grandmother is Regent Head?” Harry clarified.

Neville nodded. "Yeah, that's basically it. But I ... you guys are my friends. I mean, everyone who was raised with the old forms knows all that, and a lot of people who weren't know the situation with my parents, so I wanted to tell you guys myself instead of letting you hear it from someone else."

"Neville, you should know that I know a little bit,” Ron said suddenly, setting his sandwich down.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't. What little bit?"

"Just that they were hurt fighting You-Know-Who and your grandmother has to take care of you for them."

Neville looked down at the table, idly scratching at it. "That’s one way to put it. Harry, it happened a few days after the thing with your parents. Once You-Know-Who was gone, everyone started to come out of hiding. They thought it was safe. My parents were some of those people. Nobody thought about the fact that there were still loyal Death Eaters out there."

Hermione gasped loudly. "Oh no, Neville!"

"Yeah. Three Death Eaters came into the house and tortured my parents. Gran says they were probably looking for a way to bring You-Know-Who back.” His voice was getting softer and slower as he tried to continue the tale. Harry reached over and set a hand on his friend’s shoulder. "Whatever the reason was, they ... they used the Cruciatus Curse on them ... a lot ... and…."

Draco hesitantly stepped in. “Do you want me to-"

“Yes."

The blond took a deep breath, then said it one rushed go. "They tortured Head and Spouse Longbottom into insanity. Healers are still trying to find a way to help them, but they're in a unit in the hospital for long-term care."

"Oh, Neville,” Hermione said quietly, tears welling in her eyes.

Harry squeezed the shoulder his hand was resting on. "I'm sorry."

Neville put his face in his hands, muffling his voice slightly, but there was no mistaking the sadness and anger in it. "They've stopped looking."

"They're not trying to help?” Ron asked, sounding horrified.

"They say they're out of ideas."

Harry felt like throwing up. It sounded like Neville’s parents were war heroes, and the Healers just gave up? "That’s really awful."

"Anyway, as long as my dad's alive, the Headship doesn't pass automatically. As long as he's ... well, he can't pass it on personally. But there's always hope, right? Someone might have a new idea one day. And I want him to come back as Head, not as ... something else."

It made sense to Harry. He would give just about anything for his own dad to come back and be Head Potter. "So you think you'll just get your gran to pass Regent Head to you?"

“Yeah.” Neville didn’t sound very confident.

"You know, if she doesn't agree to it, you would actually be first in line for it once you're of age. You could sue for that instead of Head status."

"Oh, that's right! Thanks, Draco."

"You're welcome. I'd back your claim, too, or try to convince Father to since he'd be the one still in the Malfoy seat."

"I don't know what all this looks like, but if I have any influence, I'd back you, too."

Ron snorted at this statement. "You'll have tons of influence, Harry."

Draco nodded. "Especially if you consider your Boy-Who-Lived fame. You might have more influence than the Malfoy seat. Of course, that depends on what you do between now and then."

"And what the Malfoys do,” Ron pointed out.

Draco sniffed, putting his nose in the air and affecting a haughty tone. "Yes, well, the Malfoys gain power. That's all we do."

"That explains Harry and Neville, but if all you're after is power, why are you hanging around me and Hermione?"

"To keep Potter and Longbottom Houses happy, of course!” Harry could see the humor in Draco’s eyes, but his mask was apparently too good for some of their friends.

“Oh,” Hermione said quietly, dropping her gaze to the table.

"He's kidding, Hermione,” Harry explained.

Draco immediately dropped the haughty pose and tried to catch her eye. "I am only joking. I didn't mean to upset you."

"His sense of humor is bloody horrible, but don't let it get to you,” Ron put in.

"No, I'm not.” Hermione’s voice sounded a little stronger now, but she still wasn’t looking at any of them.

"I apologize for my unthinking insensitivity, Hermione,” Draco said, sounding awkward and hovering somewhere between formality and informality.

"Thanks, Draco. I accept your apology.” She didn’t quite meet his eye, but she did flash a quick smile at him.

"I know you have some other questions about inheritance and the old forms. Let me make up my faux pas by answering them for you."

"You don't have to,” she said quickly.

"Honestly, I'd do it anyway. I am the expert here, aren't I? Can't have you learning wrong from Weasley."

Ron put on a very exaggerated frown. “Oi!"

"He has a point, Ron!” Hermione said, finally getting in their friendly banter again.

"Well, then he has to make up for offending me by teaching me, too."

“Mr. Weasley, have you already forgotten that I agreed to teach you earlier?"

"Harry, are you okay?” Neville said quietly, meeting his friend’s somewhat unfocused gaze as the other three continued their insincere bickering.

"Yeah, I'm fine,” Harry said slowly. "Just thinking."

"About our parents?"

He frowned. “Yeah."

"About how awful you'd sound if you told me at least my parents are alive?"

"How did you-"

"I think the same thing, Harry."

"But it must suck not to know if they'll be okay or not."

Neville shrugged, but it felt more sincere than any other gesture could have. "It does. But you don't have even that little bit of hope."

"I have that little bit of certainty, though,” Harry said. He knew his parents were never coming back. If he didn’t have any hope, at least he couldn’t lose his hope bit by bit each day. There was never the idea that someone just needed to work harder to fix his parents.

"Let's just all agree to be jealous of Ron, then,” Neville said loudly, catching the attention of the other three again.

Ron startled in his chair. "What? Why? Even Hermione has a higher rank in the wizarding world than me, and she hasn't even known about magic for long!"

"It's not about rank, Ron,” Harry corrected.

"You have parents who can love and take care of you,” Neville explained.

"Who can visit you or send you owls any time, and you can send them owls without worrying about what the neighbors will think,” Hermione added.

Draco nodded. "They don't keep up a formal face around everyone. I bet both your parents hugged you goodbye at the train station."

Ron groaned. "Dad had to work, but I couldn't keep Mum off me."

"That's what we mean!” Harry exclaimed. "I don't understand why you'd want to keep your mum off you."

Neville smiled with just a hint of sadness. "She knows who you are, Ron."

"And you have all your siblings, too. You're not away from your whole family at school like the rest of us are.” Hermione gestured to all the other only children at the makeshift table.

Draco shrugged and turned to Ron. "Well, I for one understand not wanting your mother to hug you in front of all your new classmates."

"Finally, a sane one!” Ron said, then winced. "Er, sorry, Neville. I mean, finally one of you makes sense!"

"Thanks, Ron.” Neville nodded at his friend.

"It's nearly time for dinner, guys,” Hermione pointed out.

Harry joined the others in standing and packing their bags. "Mopsy? Could you clean up our tray, please?” he asked the air, and a quiet pop sounded just beside him.

"Of course, Master Gryffindor! Mopsy be taking care of everything,” the elf said proudly.

“Thanks,” Harry replied, and the group of friends filed out of the classroom to get ready for dinner.

"Just be grateful for your family, Ron,” Neville said as they were about to go their separate ways to drop off their bags in their dorms. "I know they annoy you sometimes, but they're still all there for you, just like you were all there for Ginny with the diary thing."

"I guess you’re right. I never really thought about it before,” Ron replied, turning for the stairs to Gryffindor Tower with a considering look on his face.

* * *

Albus frowned at the diary Severus had brought to him six months earlier. Apparently Harry Potter had brought it to his Head of House with Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley bickering about to whom it belonged the whole way. Severus had immediately had the boy drop it and had warded it strongly before delivering the book in a solid iron case - transfigured from a cauldron, if Albus wasn't mistaken. Severus reported not attempting any diagnostics on it, and Albus could only hope that the man hadn't made any educated guesses.

It was one of the most gruesome forms of Dark Magic he could think of. Severus was more attuned to darker magics in general, so it was no wonder he had sensed something off about it. The diary had a piece of a soul inside it, and not just any soul. The "T. M. Riddle" on the front cover was more than enough for Albus to know exactly whose soul it was. The Horcrux of Voldemort....

But he dare not destroy it yet. Right now, the spirit that remained of the self-proclaimed Dark Lord was far away, gathering strength and leaving magical Britain alone. If his Horcrux were destroyed, he would surely sense it and return, strong enough or not. He would come back, possessing people again, and Albus hadn't had enough time since the spirit was spotted to gather a strong enough force to repel Voldemort when the man truly returned.

Then again, Harry Potter might be another Horcrux, which simply wasn't possible unless Voldemort had already prepared to create a Horcrux that night. There were multiple Horcruxes out there belonging to the man. Albus couldn't risk destroying this one until they had a better grasp on the other Horcruxes - how many, where, and how to obtain them - because surely the destruction of one would bring the man back, whether they were ready for him or not. No, better to keep it safe until he knew more and had prepared young Harry for his destiny.

Of course, the necessary death of the Boy-Who-Lived carried its own problems for Albus and Hogwarts. Helga, the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, couldn't speak with anyone but Harry or Tom Riddle. If she were reunited with Tom, she would lose the moral code Harry had inadvertently given her and surely turn on Albus and the rest of the school. She would have to die before Harry to ensure the safety of the students. More than that, Albus had to be sure all the other Horcruxes were destroyed before Harry, or he would lose support in the fight. Voldemort had to be killed in the burst of energy and revenge that would follow Harry's death, or all would be lost. No, best to hold this Horcrux and his knowledge of the prophecy until he knew more. One doesn't summon an enemy or sacrifice one's greatest weapon until one has the path to victory all laid out.

He should probably go ahead and contact Horace Slughorn about Tom's Horcruxes. Knowledge would be power, after all.

Then again, he had plenty of time.

The Horcruxes could wait.

* * *

"Divination? Really, Weasley, that class is a waste of time even for people with the gift."

Hermione frowned as she turned to Draco. "Really? But-"

"No, Granger, don't. Just don't. It is beneath you."

Harry poked Draco hard between two ribs.

"Apologies. I meant to say, Hermione, that the class is a waste of time, taught by a drunken descendant of a true Seer. Sybil Trelawney has made one real prophecy in her life, but none of her predictions have ever been even as true as a wild guess. If you're interested in methods of divination, read up in the library. If you find out you have the gift, get training from someone who knows how."

Ron shrugged. "Whatever, Malfoy. It sounds like an easy class and a bit of fun, too."

"Ron! That's no way to learn!" Hermione looked outright scandalized by the red-haired boy's views. "How will you get anywhere in life if you take the easy way and refuse to put in any effort?"

"We can't all be Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs," he replied easily.

Harry frowned at him. "I'm not a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but I have enough ambition to want to make something of myself and enough cunning to know that a waste of time class isn't going to help."

Ron waved a hand careless in the air. "Whatever, Harry. I'm also taking Care of Magical Creatures, or maybe Muggle Studies. Neither one should be too hard. Why would you put in more effort than you need to? Two electives to graduate. Nobody cares what they were once you're out of the school."

"That is incredibly stupid," Draco said. "Especially for you. Harry and I - and Neville, if he's careful - have enough money that we don't have to work in our lives. None of the classes offered here are going to teach us estate management or political strategizing, so we'll have to study that independently, anyway. Still, we'll do best in our lives with as much knowledge as we can get. You and Hermione, though, can't live off family money and don't have half a foot in politics already like we do. You have to learn something to get a decent job."

"Are you saying you're better than me, Malfoy?"

Draco frowned. "Mr. Weasley, I am not saying that at all. I am pointing out to you as a friend might do that I don't believe you're taking all the necessary factors into account when finalizing your course options and thus future career options."

"You're not any better than I am."

"Ron, that's not what he-" Hermione started.

The boy rounded on her suddenly. "You! I can't believe you'd side with a blood purist and evil git like Malfoy! He's a Slytherin, Mione, and he doesn't even have any redeeming blood like Harry does."

"Ron, I thought we talked about my blood already."

"You know what, Potter? I think you're beyond hope, too. Hanging around with all these uppity better-than-the-rest-of-you pureblood kids. As soon as someone dares to disagree with you, you go to that formal language like it proves your point. You're even poisoning the best muggleborns against me. I hope you're happy."

"What? Ron-"

The boy stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Er."

Draco groaned. "Sorry. I didn't mean to turn him against either of you. I didn't mean to turn him against me, either, really."

"No ... I think that's pretty clear." Harry stared at the door as though willing Ron to come back through and start making sense. "I agree with all your points. I would have said the same thing if you hadn't gotten there first."

"I particularly liked the part where he thinks you're controlling me," Hermione said lightly.

Draco laughed. "At least he recognized that you're the best muggleborn."

"Best student, period," she corrected.

"Too true."

Harry coughed loudly. "Anyway, you two...." They looked away from each other and flushed. "I don't know about the rest of you, but if Mr. Weasley decides he's made a mistake, I'm willing to give him another chance to earn informality."

They both agreed with the plan. "Honestly, I'm surprised he lasted this long with four studious friends," Hermione said.

"Do you know how many games of Wizard's Chess I sat through?" Draco asked. "Or how many times Neville's lost an eyebrow to a game of Exploding Snap he didn't really want to play?"

"Have I mentioned that the only reason I played Gobstones was to keep some common ground with him when he refused to talk about schoolwork or what's going on in the world or anything but Quidditch?" Harry added.

Hermione frowned. "But you like Quidditch."

The two remaining boys both nodded. "It's just not the only thing we like," Draco clarified.

"And Neville doesn't really like it at all," Harry added.

"I'm not filling him in on this fight," Draco said immediately.

Harry sighed as Hermione said the same thing just a breath later. "Fine. I'll see you at dinner. Ravenclaw table tonight?"

"Oh, yes. A lot of us are still trying to decide on our electives, too, Harry. I think we could help you."

"I think I'll stop by Mr. Lupin's office this afternoon, too. He might be willing to give me a bit of advice, too."

* * *

"So you're really leaving, Mr. Lupin."

Remus Lupin looked up from his trunk. "I'm afraid so, Harry. The Board of Governors decided they couldn't allow a werewolf around the students any longer."

Harry snorted. "Didn't stop them from hiring you at the beginning of the year or from you being better than either of the professors we had last year."

"Well, you have a point there. Considering the fact that my contract included the provisions to keep me safe on full moons, they did know when they approved my hiring." Remus looked around his office thoughtfully. "I've not had any incidents, and I've kept to the provisions completely."

"Sounds to me like wrongful termination," Harry opined. "Professor Lupin, House Potter wishes to fund all legal fees related to your wrongful termination case in exchange for you agreeing to continue in your post as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts School, subject to the same safety provisions in your contract this year."

Remus stared at the boy. "Harry ... I mean, Minor Head Potter, are you sure?"

Harry grinned. "Like I said, you're the best we've had. I don't want you just for my second year. Add a bit more spells and bit less creatures, and you'll be perfect. It's an investment in my future, not a favor to a friend of the family, though I'm certainly glad to be helping a friend. What do you say?"

"Can you afford it?"

"Legal fees are approved to draft from the main vault instead of my trust vault. No problem."

"Very well. Minor Head Potter, I accept your offer and look forward to serving House Potter in its educational and other needs in the future."

"Awesome!" Harry grinned and leaned on the office doorway. "Now, I could use some help picking my electives for next year. Advice?"

Remus frowned. "Harry, have you considered that this post is most likely cursed? Even Albus - Professor Dumbledore, I mean - thinks that the curse is the reason no professor has taught Defense for more than a year in several decades."

"I'm sick of the curse!" Harry exclaimed. "We don't even know if it's real. But if it is - Okay, curse on the Defense position! I'm talking to you!" He pointed menacingly around the small office. "I'm tired of you! It is time for you to be broken!" He slapped the door frame in emphasis, and Remus gaped as there was a flash of light.

"Harry?"

"Mr. Lupin, what was that?"

Remus looked around, a bit confused. Everything looked the same, but that had been definite magic. No, there was no way.... "We'll have to see what happens in September, but I think you may have just broken the curse."

* * *

"You mean to tell me that you've known for years that the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position was REAL?" Remus shouted, jumping to his feet in the headmaster's office. "You let me come and teach, knowing that something would force me to leave at the end of the year? Knowing that it was likely that be outed as a werewolf at Hogwarts would END any future job prospects I had? And you DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT THE CURSE? Merlin, Dumbledore, you could have called a curse breaker! You could have even let me know there was a curse so I could have looked into it!"

"Would you have joined my staff if you'd known of the curse?"

Remus hesitated. Probably not. Then again, knowing Harry was at the school.... "Maybe. Either way, there's this little thing called consent."

The older man smiled with twinkling eyes. "Ah, Remus, but you did consent to the job when you signed the contract."

"One cannot fully consent without knowing all variables possible to know," Remus shot back.

"You knew all the variables you could know."

"All the variables you decided to let me know. I _could_ have known more, but you decided they weren't important. I was uninformed and thus didn't truly consent."

"Do you contest your original contract?"

Remus frowned and thought for a moment. He had been paid more than any previous job he'd job but less than any first-year teacher should receive. Dumbledore would have trouble recruiting new teachers just the same as he had the past few years, and revealing that the curse was broken wouldn't work out well for him - bested by a second year? Not to mention that it would reveal that the headmaster hadn't even attempted to break the curse. "Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore, I contest the pay in my original contract based on incomplete knowledge of the job."

"Very well." The man didn't hide his surprise from someone who could smell it, Remus noted. "Shall I assume you'll be obtaining legal representation?"

Remus hoped Harry didn't mind if he borrowed the solicitors for this, too. "Yes, Headmaster. I believe you will be hearing from Bogden and Stokes within the week regarding unfair pay from Hogwarts and withholding of pertinent information by your individual self."

"Bogden and Stokes? My boy-"

"I believe that's everything, Albus?" Remus stood, but the headmaster waved him back into a seat.

"That can be everything regarding your contract, but Remus, I'm afraid I must ask for more details about how the curse was broken."

Remus sighed. "I told you word for word what Harry said. I've examined the door frame and found no runes - though of course, you are more than welcome to conduct your own investigation into the workings of your castle. I have no answers as to how a second year broke a curse beyond your abilities."

Dumbledore winced at that, and Remus suppressed a smile at the cheap shot.

"Do you have any answers? I believe they would directly impact my job, Headmaster."

"Er ... yes, I suppose they would affect your job, were you to keep it. However, since you aren't-"

"I am."

Dumbledore blinked. "Remus...."

"I will be returning to this castle in August to complete preparations for next year's classes."

"My boy, I know you were able to settle the wrongful termination case outside of court and well in your favor, but to return to this job-"

"Was part of the settlement."

Dumbledore blinked again. Remus knew it had been a good choice to bury that on the third page of the settlement agreement. "I see."

"Unless you were planning to terminate my employment?" It would almost be worth it just to bring a second case less than week after the first was settled.

"Ah, no. That won't be necessary. Thank you for your service, Remus."

He ignored the dismissal permeating Dumbledore's voice. "Headmaster, your theories on how the curse was broken?"

"I'll require an Unbreakable Vow that you never share this information," Dumbledore said, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Absolutely not."

"Then I'm afraid I cannot tell you."

"Who placed this curse?"

Dumbledore brought another heavy, sad sigh into the conversation. "It was Lord Voldemort. The curse was keyed only to his magical signature. He is the only one who could have broken it."

Remus couldn't contain himself. He let out a loud, long laugh.

"This is quite serious, Remus!"

"Are you telling me that Harry Potter is actually You-Know-Who?"

"In a manner of speaking, though of course not entirely."

Remus laughed again, standing from his chair. "I'll have the true theory out of you one of these days, Headmaster."

* * *

"I have something to tell you, Harry, but I'd like to hear about your summer so far," Uncle Lucius said, a hand resting comfortably on Harry's shoulder.

Harry shrugged. "My family was exactly as tolerable as they usually are, though Vernon's sister Marge was in rare form one night talking about my parents. I think she was baiting me on purpose - she still thinks I'm at that school for criminally insane boys, remember? Anyway, I could feel my magic trying to react, but the exercises you and Mr. Snape taught me earlier in the year helped me stay in control. Honestly, she would have deserved whatever my magic did to her, but I remember what you said about the underage magic punishments."

"Very good, Harry," Uncle Lucius praised. "If you held yourself in check when someone was talking like that, I think you're ready to move on to learning some actual Occlumency. Draco's just started this week. Anything else of note?"

"I can't think of anything," Harry answered after thinking for a while. "Neville Longbottom said his grandmother is setting up a dinner party that your family and I will be invited to, but he doesn't know when it is yet. Hermione wants to meet up in Diagon Alley for shopping, and Hannah thinks that's a great idea. But none of that is really unusual."

Uncle Lucius nodded, and Harry smiled to himself at the man's slowly increasing openness to Harry and Draco spending time with the children of Lucius's political enemies and those he considered beneath the boys. "Well, we can make arrangements for some of that later. What classes did you decide to take next year?"

"Well, of course I'm keeping all of the core classes, and I had a lot of advice, but in the end I decided to go with your advice, Uncle Lucius. Actually, so is Hermione, I think."

"Adding on Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy?"

Harry nodded. "I think she's planning to drop Care of Magical Creatures after the OWL if she drops anything. I know she wants to join Draco and me for estate management and political strategizing."

"And your own plans for after the OWL?"

Harry frowned. "Well, that will depend on how my self-studies are going, of course! From what I've read in the introductory books you loaned me, I may not want to keep Runes, but it looks like they get a lot more interesting and useful in the NEWT classes. Arithmancy, though, I don't know."

"I found the NEWT classes in Arithmancy to be simply working more difficult equations. We didn't learn any new concepts that couldn't be self-taught," Lucius offered. "I dropped Creatures, but you seem sure you'd like to keep it."

"At this point, I think so, but my opinion might change."

"Of course. You are still quite young. I hope that you'll consider coming to me for more advice when the time comes."

Harry grinned. "Of course, Uncle Lucius! Anyway, what did you have to tell me?"

"Have you ever heard of Sirius Black?"

"The escaped prisoner that the newspapers say was a Death Eater and my godfather?" Harry replied.

Lucius looked taken aback.

"You're the one who told me to take a subscription to the Daily Prophet."

"Ah, yes. I'm proud of you for following through and continuing to pay attention to it."

Harry's grin was automatic. "Anyway, what about him?"

"He is indeed your godfather, though to my knowledge he was never a Death Eater. In fact, I believe he held the opposite values and was even a member of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Dumbledore's resistance," Harry said, almost to himself, as he quickly skimmed through his memories of Uncle Lucius and Mr. Snape teaching him and Draco about the last war during the Easter break.

"Precisely. How he ended up in Azkaban without a trial, I don't know, but he's accused of giving the Dark Lord the secret to your location. However, I know he was not the one to do so. No, I won't tell you who was; the man is dead now anyway."

Harry frowned. "If he's dead, why not tell me?"

"Emotional control, Harry."

The boy thought for a long moment, then decided his uncle was probably right. Putting a face and a name to the betrayal would make it easier to dwell on, and if there was nothing he could do about it.... "Okay. So why was Scion Black in prison, and why did he escape?"

"I don't know, but he's heading for Hogwarts. There will be extra security on the train and at the school this year."

"Do you think he's coming to see me?" Harry asked, curious about his godfather and why Mr. Lupin had never mentioned the man before. "And if so, to kill me or get to know me?"

Lucius shrugged, a rare expression even in the privacy of his own home. "We can but wait," he replied. "You may wish to secure additional tutoring this year to be more able to protect yourself, in case that's the reason for Black's visit."

"I'll owl Mr. Lupin this afternoon," Harry promised.

* * *

"Hello, Mr. Weasley, Miss Weasley, Branch Head and Branch Spouse-Head Weasley. How are you today?"

"Quite well, Minor Head Potter. My offer to refer to me semi-formally still stands, if you choose," Branch Head Weasley replied as Daughter Weasley curtsied shallowly, an appropriate response from one minor to another regardless of status upon majority age. Sixth Son Weasley didn't acknowledge the greeting at all.

Harry smiled lightly at him. "Ah, but Branch Head Weasley, with the sheer number of sons you have, I already find myself at a loss to keep up with so many Mr. Weasleys." Arthur returned the smile with a respectful nod at this familiar exchange.

"I don't know why you don't just call them by their first names, dear," Branch Spouse-Head Weasley added. "Everyone else does."

"Madam, I find that I regrettably do not know your children well enough for informal speech," he answered her.

"But you're friends with Ron!"

Harry glanced to the boy in question to find his ears turning red. "I'm afraid you've been misinformed, Madam. Mr. Weasley saw fit to terminate our friendship at the end of the last school year. I remain on friendly terms with the remainder of your children - discounting Scion Weasley and Second Son Weasley, whom I have never met, of course - and I invite Mr. Weasley to speak semi-formally with me, if he chooses to keep at least a civil, if not friendly, tongue in my presence."

"Ronald! What in Merlin's name did you say to Harry!"

"To Minor Head Potter, dear," Branch Head Weasley corrected gently, and Harry waved a hand as Arthur turned to apologize to him. He liked the tradition and structure the older, more formal language provided, but the Head taking responsibility for the Spouse-Head's words was not something he particularly believed in. Minor children were the Head and Spouse-Head's responsibility, considering that they were raising them, but any adult was responsible for their own words and deeds in Harry's eyes.

"If you would excuse me, Weasley Family," Harry said politely, bowing the slightest bit. Branch Head Weasley returned the bow, to Harry's surprise and pleasure, and Daughter Weasley curtsied again. "I must find my friends and secure a compartment for our ride."

"Have a wonderful trip, dear," Branch Spouse-Head Weasley said absently before turning back to her youngest son to harangue him about the end of their friendship. Harry didn't feel particularly sorry for the boy; he'd clearly been misleading his parents all summer.

"There you are!" Hermione said, catching his elbow as he turned. "Draco and Neville are holding a compartment near the back of the train. Do you need some help with your trunk?"

He grinned at his friend and pulled her into a familiar hug. "Hello, Hermione. Did you have a good summer? Oh, that's great to hear. It's wonderful to see you again. Yes, I'm looking forward to classes, as well."

She blushed. "Prat."

"No, Uncle Lucius put a featherlight charm on it, same as Draco's trunk. I was using the trolley in the station not to alert the muggles to it, but now that I'm on the platform, it shouldn't be difficult at all."

"Hermione?"

The two spun and saw a blonde-haired girl standing behind them, already in Ravenclaw robes. "Oh, hello, Luna. May I present to you Minor Head Potter? Harry, this is Daughter Lovegood. She's a year below us."

"Well met, Daughter Lovegood. Please call me semi-formally."

The girl blinked at him, then nodded. "Well met, semi-formally. You can call me Luna. Hermione, I assume you have friends to sit with on the train, then?"

"Oh, yes, but thank you for thinking of me," the darker girl replied.

"Do you, Luna?" Harry asked bluntly, ignoring Hermione's gasp and elbow to his ribs. "If you don't, you can join our compartment, at least for part of the ride. We have space for two more."

"Mr. Potter, would you mind if I joined you as well?" Miss Weasley asked as she came up and gave Luna a brief hug and greeting. "Mum finally got the truth out of Ron, and I'm sure he'll be apologizing in the next couple of days, but in the meantime I'd like to get to know you a little bit better and talk to you about ... the thing you took from me last year."

Harry blinked, then remembered the evil-feeling diary he'd passed on to Mr. Snape. "Ah, sure. If the two of you are joining us, you can call me Harry while in our compartment."

"I hate your limited informality offers," Hermione hissed in his ear, but he shrugged. She knew his reasoning. When someone was in close quarters with him or working with him in class, it was just easier to use informal address, but he didn't want to give them unlimited informality until he knew them well enough. She wasn't a fan of his conditional offers, either.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. You can call me Ginny at any time if you prefer."

"Not Ginevra?"

The girl grimaced. "No, thank you. I much prefer Ginny."

"Hmm. As you wish, though I think it's a shame to reject such a lovely and mature name. Maybe you'll like it better when you're older. Doesn't matter, though. To the compartment! Lead on, Hermione."

Draco, of course, knew of both the girls; Neville had met them each a few times though wasn't close to either of them. Both boys offered informal address for the train ride, though, and Neville didn't limit his offer at all. The girls returned the informality and moved the conversation to classes, homework, and even a bit of Quidditch and the news. Harry relaxed and enjoyed the conversation before Ginny swapped seats with Neville to be next to him.

"Er, could we talk about last year, Harry?" she asked quietly, blushing some.

He nodded. "Of course. About the diary I took from you?"

"Yeah. I was pretty mad when Ron said you'd taken it, but then he told me how Professor Snape said it was really evil dark magic in it and that he hoped I hadn't been writing in it or anything."

"You were writing in it, weren't you."

Ginny nodded. "Not for too long, but long enough that Professor Dumbledore thinks it managed to possess me once."

Possess her! Harry shuddered. That was more than just 'really evil dark magic'; it was unexpectedly horrid and powerful. "Did you see a Healer or anyone about it?" he asked.

She blushed again and looked down. "Yeah. Madam Pomfrey set me up with appointments at St. Mungo's, and I flooed there every week for a while. Eventually they figured out what I did when I was possessed, though. I couldn't remember at first, you know. Really, I needed the Mind Healer a lot more after we figured it out."

"Hey, whatever it was, it wasn't your fault," Harry told her. "That Riddle person was the one possessing you, I reckon, so it's his faul-"

"Thanks for taking it," she interrupted. "He used me to open the Chamber of Secrets and was going to use the basilisk - Ron told me you said her name was Helga? He was going to use Helga to ... to kill people."

Harry blinked in surprise, then noticed that the rest of the compartment was quiet. The others were staring at him and Ginny in shock, except for Luna, who just reached over and set her hand on her friend's knee.

"I didn't want to hurt anyone!" Ginny said in a rush, a few tears starting to drip down her face. "I'm sorry!"

"You didn't hurt anyone," Neville said. "And even if you had, like Harry said, it wasn't your fault. It was Riddle's."

"I could have killed you all," Ginny sobbed.

"I would have been first," Hermione said, her voice sounding oddly empty. "Muggleborns were the ones Salazar Slytherin wanted to kill, so that's the whole point of the basilisk."

"My family is considered blood traitors," Neville added in a similar tone. "I'd be next. My parents stood against the Death Eaters for Muggle rights. They were tortured for it - Merlin, I can still hear their screams...."

Harry could hear screams, too, but they weren't Neville's parents. They couldn't be. There was a woman calling his name ... swearing to protect him ... a flash of green light ... the woman yelling his name ... green light ... his name ... green light....

He opened his eyes to find himself on the floor, the others in the compartment shaking. There was a Ravenclaw he didn't recognize kneeling beside him with the Head Girl badge on. "Hey, Potter, you back with us? Can you say something?"

"What...."

"It was a Dementor," the head girl answered. "They're supposedly looking for Sirius Black, but this one didn't want to leave you six alone. It's gone now, though."

"Penny ran it off with the Patronus Charm," Hermione informed him, her voice sounding rather shaken.

"Do you lot have any chocolate?" Penny asked, and Draco reached into his bag. "Good. All of you have some, especially Potter. I want all of you to see Madam Pomfrey when we get back to school, too - children shouldn't be exposed to Dementors at all, and that one damn near kissed Potter, which puts it way too close to the rest of you for my liking. I've got to check the other compartments, but I'll be back to make sure you're all recovering okay."

"Did I hear that right?" came a voice from the corridor as Penny was leaving. "Did Potter get himself a girlfriend in long black cloak?"

"That's not funny, Ronald!" Hermione said loudly.

Ginny stood up and got in the doorway to prevent her brother from looking in. "It was a D-d-dementor, Ron. You shouldn't make fun." Harry could see her legs shaking a bit. "It really got to me, too. Made me relive being possessed."

There was a long silence, then Ron spoke again. "I'm not making fun of you, Gin. You lived through an awful thing last year."

"I relived ... the thing I told you last year about my parents," Neville added, though he didn't stand up.

"Yeah, I'm not making fun of you, either," Ron said, starting to sound uncomfortable. "That's pretty awful, too. But neither of you passed out!"

"My parents were murdered in front of me," Harry whispered to himself, but the others in the compartment gasped.

There was a long moment of silence. "I didn't know that," Ron finally said quietly.

"Neither did I." Harry lifted his eyes to his former friend's face. "That's the first time I've heard their voices," he said quietly. "The first time I hear my parents' voices, and they're dying in front of me. Over and over and over."

"I didn't know."

Harry's gaze hardened. "Nobody knew that."

"Well, what do you want me to say, then?"

Neville cut in sharply. "None of us knew that, but we were all more concerned with making sure our friend was okay than with shouting about what happened and making fun of him."

"So you're all better than me! I get it!" Ron slammed the compartment door in his sister's face and stomped away, cursing them all loudly as he marched out of earshot.

"I'm sorry for him, Minor Head Potter," Ginny said as she sat back down.

"He's not your responsibility, so don't apologize for him or address me formally," Harry said tiredly, pushing himself upright and swaying for a moment before retaking his seat beside her. "Thanks for standing up for me. Draco, you okay?"

The boy nodded silently, offering Harry more chocolate.

"Luna?"

The girl nodded, drawing her legs up to her chest.

"Well, if either of you want to talk about it ... we've all had some pretty terrible things to relive, I guess," Harry finished awkwardly. "Eat your chocolate. Penny was right; it does help."

"Do you want to write to my parents about Ron, or shall I?" Ginny asked quietly.

Harry shrugged. "I don't want to think about it right now."

"Okay. Let me know. If I don't hear otherwise, I'll send a letter tomorrow."

He nodded silently, keeping a concerned eye on the two silent blond people sitting across from him.

* * *

"Don't be an idiot," Harry said with a groan. "Everyone knows you got hurt because you didn't listen to Hagrid. You're starting to gain ground in all of the houses as a political force, not just in Slytherin. Do you really want to risk losing that by going crying to Daddy about a little scratch?" He looked pointedly at the almost completely healed skin on Draco's forearm.

Draco had the good sense to look a little bit abashed. "Well, no, but Father wants me to help him get Hagrid fired."

"Do you want Hagrid fired?"

The blond boy shrugged. "He's not exactly following the curriculum laid out by the board, is he?"

"Is that enough to fire him and kill an innocent creature who only reacted exactly the way you knew he would?"

"No, okay? It's not! But Father-"

Harry slapped a hand over Draco's mouth. "I can't tell you what to do. You know what you want, and you know what your father wants. It's up to you to decide between them."

* * *

"Mr. Malfoy, I wanted to thank you for convincing your father not to go after Buckbeak," Hagrid said, standing awkwardly at the Slytherin table. Harry glared at the students nearby to quell their attitudes.

"Certainly, Professor Hagrid," Draco said, offering his hand. "I recognize that the fault in that situation was mine. I merely apprised Father of the facts that he had initially misinterpreted. Do not count it as a favor, Professor. It was just correcting a mistake in understanding between family members."

"I'm glad it worked out well for you, though," Harry added as Hagrid took Draco's hand in his significantly larger one and shook it very gently.

The large man beamed down at Harry. "Me, too."

As Hagrid headed off to the High Table, Harry turned to Draco. "So I just realized nobody ever calls Hagrid anything but Hagrid. Well, except for just then with Professor Hagrid. Why's that?"

Pansy started to laugh, but Draco stopped her with a pointed look. "Tell me the rules of title inheritance."

"Er, well, it goes to the oldest name-bearing child in the direct line," Harry started. "And from there it's traced back to find the closest related oldest child of the generation that would have an heir. That's how you're the Black heir instead of it being your mother."

"Not to mention that his mother has it stipulated in her marriage contract that she will always bear Malfoy as her sole family name unless Lord Malfoy also changes his family name," Theo Nott added.

"Which would make him own the title?"

Draco nodded. "It's unlikely but possible for him to do so. Anyway, what else about title inheritance? Why would a title not pass to the oldest name-bearing child?"

Harry frowned in thought. "Um, they're formally cast from the family?"

"Yes. What else?"

"They ... refuse the title?"

Draco laughed. "I suppose that's true, though I don't believe there's a recorded case of it. Do you have any other ideas?"

Harry shook his head after another moment of thought.

"Think about what qualifies someone to hold a seat in the Wizengamot."

"They hold a Head of House status, Regent Head status, or are appointed with formal documentation and presentation to and approval of the rest of the Wizengamot to represent the seat in question."

"There's more," Daphne Greengrass said.

Harry shrugged.

"Think about polluting bloodlines," Pansy offered.

Harry glared at her. "No such thing, Parkinson, and I'll thank you to hold your tongue with that sort of language."

The girl lowered her eyes. "Yes, Minor Head Potter. Forgive my transgression."

"When you show true regret for it," he answered as always. Pansy was racking up quite a debt of transgressions to him. "Anyway, I know there aren't any laws about blood purity for the Wizengamot."

"There are, just not in the Muggle blood way," Blaise Zabini corrected. "Creature blood."

"The official law states that no Wizengamot seat shall be held by any member of a bloodline carrying blood polluted by creatures within three generations," Draco said, his eyes flickering just barely towards Pansy.

Harry sighed and turned back to the girl. "Miss Parkinson, your transgression is erased. Please forgive my correction to your language when you were quoting for my benefit rather than going against the rules of Slytherin House."

Pansy grinned at him. "Oh, Potter. I believe I'll forgive you when-" She sighed at the sharp look from Draco. "Very well. You are forgiven, on the condition that in the future you seek to understand before passing judgment."

"Your condition is fully accepted and embraced. Thank you for your forgiveness and for your wisdom in passing a condition that benefits me greatly." Harry added a sincere smile to the end of this, and Pansy frowned, obviously upset that Harry actually saw the condition as a positive. "Anyway, Draco, are you saying that Hagrid doesn't meet the creature requirements?"

Tracy Davis snorted. "Really, Potter? You can't be serious. The man is half-giant. Surely you've noticed."

Harry eyed Hagrid. Sure, he was big, but giants were supposed to be over twenty feet tall. Hagrid wasn't half of that! Still, with three generations to get past the restriction.... "So his mother was a giant?"

"Yep," Crabbe answered succinctly.

"So Hagrid's grandson would be able to claim the Hagrid Headship?"

Draco shrugged. “Hagrid would have to procreate first, but yes. Even if the Headship had managed to pass to a lesser line - though there are no other living Hagrids but this one - Hagrid's descendants would have a higher claim as coming directly from the main line. Of course, they'd be frowned upon in dece- norm- in society, I mean, until they were at least eight generations removed from the giantess, but they would have no legal restrictions."

"What would happen if Hagrid had a child with a half-giantess?" Harry asked. "Would their giant blood add up to resetting the clock on generations?"

Draco shuddered. "Perish the thought! No, even if all people between Hagrid and the grandson were half-giants, the rule isn't by blood but by generations removed from the full creature."

"That seems odd."

Tracey shrugged. "Welcome to the Wizengamot, Potter. Don't expect laws or government to make sense."

"That's why we exist," Daphne added. "Our influence is what keeps the government sane."

* * *

"I need a minute," Draco said, unceremoniously grabbing Hermione's wrist and pulling her into the nearest empty classroom. He glanced around just enough to determine that they were alone, including portrait people, then rounded on the girl. "You're exhausted."

She pulled nervously on the collar of her robes. "I'm just a bit tired. It's nothing."

Draco sighed and nudged her chin up with a finger. "It's not nothing, Hermione. You're well past a bit tired. Don't hide from me. I care about you, okay? I'm just trying to look out for you." There was a silence for a beat too long, and Draco rushed to fill it. "I mean, as a friend, of course, um, I mean, we're friends, so I'm looking out for a friend, right?"

"It's nothing, Draco," Hermione said, shaking her head.

"When's the last time you had eight hours of sleep?"

It looked like the girl had to stop to think about it. "Last night," she said firmly.

"Thestral shite. Not if you had to think that long."

"It was, okay? I promise it was Tuesday night."

His eyes narrowed at the phrasing. It was a long shot, but ... "How long, in hours, has it been since you last slept eight hours?"

"Twenty, I think." Hermione's eyes widen suddenly. "Wait, I mean-"

"Merlin's tits, Hermione!" Draco reached for the gold chain she was suddenly playing with and yanked it up out of the neck of her robes. "You- Merlin, Morgana, and Arthur, Hermione!"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy!" She slapped his hand away from the chain. "There is no call for that sort of language!"

"Yes, there is!" he shouted, pointing at her chest. "You ... that ... you ... what MORON gave you THAT?"

She stared at him with wide eyes. "What MORON? Draco Malfoy! How dare you!"

"Do you know what that is!" he said in a voice that he would definitely deny was anywhere near a yelp.

"Yes, I do! It's a Time Turner! It's so I can get to all my classes!"

He returned the stare. "Oh, bloody hell."

"Language!"

"You're taking all five electives, aren't you!"

"And what if I am!"

"You're using a TIME TURNER to do it!"

She huffed and tucked it back under her robes. "Yes, I am! It was the only way to make my schedule work! They already scheduled the rest of you around me to make me have to turn back the least!"

"You're using a Merlin-forsaken TIME TURNER, Hermione!"

"YES, DRACO. I AM. What of it?"

He threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Do you know what those DO to a person who doesn't have a mature magical core?"

There was a long moment of silence. "Er. Do you?"

"No! That's the point! They haven't figured it out! In half of the trials, the kids LOST THEIR MAGIC, Hermione! They turned into SQUIBS. Do you think I want to see that happen to you?"

She gaped at him. "Lost their- Merlin! Draco! What about the other half?"

He grimaced. "Their magical cores doubled in size."

"DOUBLED?"

"It's unpredictable! We don't know how it affects kids! That's what I'm saying! You shouldn't use something so dangerous!"

She stared for a long moment before self-consciously patting the Time Turner under her robe. "Draco ... I've been using this for over three months now."

"Shite, shite, shite. Do you know your original core size?"

"82, by the Rowena-Helena Core Size Index," she answered promptly.

Draco rolled his eyes at the choice of core measurement spell. "I suppose all firstie Ravens get measured with that spell?"

"Just be glad I'm not a Gryffindor!" she replied shrilly. "They don't get measured at all! Now do you know the spell or not?"

" _Magnitudine Metiri Magicae_ ," Draco intoned by way of answer. After a long moment, a glowing 158 hovered above Hermione. She twisted to see it, then grinned at him. "We don't know that you're safe, Hermione," he cautioned.

"My core has doubled," she answered, sounding smug.

Draco glared at his friend. "Hermione. We _don't understand_ how Time Turners affect children. Yes, your core has doubled, but the next time you turn that thing, you might lose your magic. We don't know!"

"I can't believe nobody told me the dangers," she said quietly. "They gave this to me at the start of term and warned me not to see myself, but they never mentioned anything else."

"Oh, you can see yourself, as long as you plan it ahead. Father has used a Time Turner to duel against himself. If you already know you're going to turn back and see yourself before you see yourself, it's okay." Draco shook his head. "That's not the point. They didn't warn you about your core. Did they mention its possible effects on your health? Your sleeping patterns? How many copies of yourself from different timelines you can safely have in one moment?"

Hermione shook her head. "I've been trying not to turn back further than I need to, and I do it the same amount every day so my sleep doesn't get off."

"Until you stop using it. Then you'll be completely off."

"I ... hadn't thought of that."

Draco sighed. "You'll probably adjust okay, being young, but still. They should have told you all of this. No more than three of you at once, though really any more than just the regular you is slightly dangerous. Which model did they give you? Do you turn back to where you are when you flip it or to where your original self was at that time?"

"There are different kinds?"

He groaned and put his head in his hands. "Hermione, Merlin, they've messed this up for you. You've got to do something."

"What is there to do?"

"Stop turning. Drop whatever classes you have to. There's no way you need Muggle Studies, and if you really want a wizard's perspective, just ask those of us who were raised in this world. And surely you've noticed what a waste of time Divination is by now?"

"Yeah, you were right about that class," she agreed. "Okay. If I drop those two and stop turning, will you relax?"

"You're getting a full checkup at St. Mungo's over break. I'll have Father set up an appointment with my healer. No, don't argue. I'll even pay for it. I'm going to be checking your core size regularly until I'm satisfied. If they don't take the Time Turner back, keep wearing it in case of emergency - they're actually more helpful than a Portkey; nobody's ever managed to ward against a Time Turner. I swear on Merlin's staff, though, if I get the slightest hint that you're turning for anything short of life and death, I will make you regret it."

The girl looked at him in silence for a long moment, then smiled. "Thanks, Draco. I should probably tell you, though, you're going to run into a different version of me in a few minutes. I already turned back from about two hours in the future."

"You are going to be the death of me." Draco glared at her, trying to impress his seriousness on her before stomping out of the room. He nearly bumped into Hermione as he turned the corner in the hallway. "What are you doing- Oh, Merlin." He threw his hands in the air in a most undignified way and marched in the opposite direction, ignoring her confused calls behind him. No point in trying to talk to someone who hasn't yet experienced the conversation you just had with them.

* * *

"Father, Mother, may I present to you First Generation Witch Hermione Granger, presumptive Minor Head of House Granger, formally allied to House Potter and House Longbottom, and holder of the top academic slot at Hogwarts for two years running? Witch Granger, may I present to you Lord Lucius Malfoy, Head of House Malfoy, Wizengamot Representative, and Special Advisor to the Minister for Magic, and his wife Lady Narcissa Black Malfoy, Spouse-Head of House Malfoy?"

Hermione held out her hands with a polite smile. "Well met and blessings of Morgana upon your and household, Lord and Lady Malfoy. Draco has often spoken well of both of you, yet I find his descriptions of your beauty, Lady Malfoy, and your sophistication, Lord Malfoy, to be lacking just slightly."

Draco's parents each reached for one of her hands. "Well met indeed, Witch Granger," Lord Malfoy said as he and his wife squeezed her hands briefly. "Top of your class two years running? I find that Draco's descriptions of your intelligence are entirely accurate, though he failed to explain your poise and manners. Might I enquire as to who has been educating you in the forms?"

Hermione nodded once. "Certainly, Lord Malfoy, and be welcomed to call me Hermione or Miss Granger as you choose. Draco himself, with some aid from Scion Neville Longbottom, has been teaching me." As the Malfoys dropped Hermione's hand, she found herself reaching towards Draco. She stopped with a slight blush.

"Hermione is an apt student, Father," Draco said, stepping closer to her. "She is as intelligent as her grades show, but she also has a natural understanding of societal rankings and an eagerness to join in the place she deserves."

"Well met, Hermione," Lady Malfoy said, breaking her long silence. "You are encouraged to call me Mrs. Malfoy for the time being. If I may - have you scheduled an appointment at Gringotts to confirm your Minor Head status?"

"I have, Mrs. Malfoy. Two days prior to our return to school."

"Wonderful. Excuse me for just one moment - Draco?" Hermione watched apprehensively as Draco stepped away with his mother for a quiet conversation. Harry bumped her shoulder companionably from her other side, and she refocused on the man in front of her.

Lord Malfoy chuckled. "So, Miss Granger, you're the one keeping Draco from the top academic slot."

"I find him to be a worthy adversary, Lord Malfoy," she returned without hesitation. "He and Harry are the only two who can challenge my combined grades, though each of them outperforms my practical work in at least two subjects at present. Unfortunately, the other Ravenclaws in my year are only a challenge on theoretical aspects. It's quite refreshing to study with and compete against well-rounded students."

"I am pleased that my son and adoptive nephew rate so highly in your estimation. Be welcomed to call me Mr. Malfoy. Are your parents on the other side of the barrier?"

Hermione nodded. "Shall I present them to you?"

"I believe Narcissa and Draco will rejoin us momentarily. We can proceed together."

Hermione didn't miss the slight nods Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy gave to each other when the group reunited, but Draco's hand on her back as he guided her through the crowd and to the barrier to the Muggle side of the platform sufficiently distracted her from anything else. It took a long moment for her to clear her head enough to locate her parents.

"Mum! Dad!"

The pair turned to greet her with hugs, but she drew back relatively quickly. "I'd like to introduce you to Harry Potter as well as Draco Malfoy and his parents," she said quietly. "Remember the formal manners I've told you about?"

"I remember, but I'm sure to get it wrong," her father said quietly.

"It's okay. Mum, Dad, may I present to you Lord and Lady Malfoy and their son Scion Draco Malfoy, a family of great status within the wizarding world? Additionally, I'd like to present Minor Head Harry Potter, who also commands a great deal of attention. Harry, Draco, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, may I present to you my parents, Drs. Granger?"

"Well met, Drs. Granger," Mr. Malfoy said, holding his hands out to her father. "We've only just met your Hermione, but she's a pleasure to know. I hope to continue getting to know her for years to come."

Mrs. Malfoy squeezed Hermione's mother's hands gently and released them, prompting her father to take Mr. Malfoy's hands finally. "We were just thinking of a way to see her for a bit of this break - of course, we wouldn't want to intrude on any family traditions, but perhaps the last few days of the break, she could come to Malfoy Manor? Harry will be with us the entire break, as he typically is, but rest assured we would appropriately chaperone the time the boys and Hermione spend together."

Hermione's mother tilted her a bit to the left, as she always did when thinking. "Lady Malfoy, that is a very generous offer, but I would be concerned about her staying with unfamiliar people in a place I probably couldn't find if I tried."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Malfoy said. "I'm afraid that is a concern - our Manor is warded against those without magic being able to find it as well as significant other wards to prevent unwanted guests with magic. I understand a reluctance for her to visit under those circumstances, but we can provide a means of instantaneous communication to help ease that concern. As for us being unfamiliar people, I would of course be happy to meet with you a few times for dinner and conversation with our children. No obligation for her to visit this break if you find yourselves still uncomfortable."

"We'll talk about it at home and get in touch within a few days, if that suits, Lord Malfoy."

"Of course, Dr. Granger. Hermione, we will await your owl. I look forward to seeing you again, whether you choose to join us at the Manor or simply a night out together."

She smiled at the man gratefully. She wasn't sure how well he'd take her parents' modern Muggle manners, but of course he had handled himself with grace. "I am eager as well, Mr. Malfoy. Coeus will bring you news. I am grateful for the invitation."

"Travel safely to your home, Hermione, Drs. Granger," Mrs. Malfoy said. "Harry, Draco?"

Harry didn't flinch as Hermione gave him a gentle hug, though he didn't return it, either. "Happy Yule, Hermione."

"You too, Harry. Draco?"

The blond smiled openly at Hermione. "Take care, alright? I'll see you soon, I hope, so I won't say Happy Yule today."

"Okay, Draco. See you soon." She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her, surprised when he didn't hesitate as he normally did before returning her hug.

"Take care," he repeated softly into her hair, squeezed her hand gently as he let go, and followed his parents and Harry to an apparition point without looking back.

"So, sweetheart ... anything we need to know about this Draco of yours?"

Hermione batted at her mother's arm. "What? No! He's not ... _my_ Draco!"

"As long as you tell us when that changes, dear," her father said.

"What makes you think it will!" Hermione picked up her owl Coeus's cage and stalked off, leaving her parents to laugh as they followed with her trunk.

* * *

"Neville!" Harry grinned at their friend as he stepped into their compartment on the train. "Here, I'll help with the trunk." As soon as the luggage was stowed above the seats, he grinned again and pointed to the other bench. "Meet Minor Head Granger, Blood and Magical Descendant of Ravenclaw, officially dating Scion Malfoy!"

Neville returned Harry's grin. "Three big pieces of news in one sentence, but I don't even have to think about which one to focus on."

Draco turned red as the two descendants of Gryffindor turned to look at them.

"We really need to find a descendant of Hufflepuff," Neville said blandly. "Really round out this collection. Too bad it isn't Draco."

The blond stared at him, mouth gaping. "What- You- That's- Neville!"

"Yes, I am Neville. Thanks for noticing, Draco."

"Hufflepuff!"

"I am that, too. Did my scarf give it away?"

Draco glared, finally snapping his mouth shut.

* * *

"Dementors!" Sirius shouted, and he changed into his Animagus form before Remus could do anything to stop him. As soon as he shifted shapes, the spell holding Severus in the air slipped, and Remus quickly recast it, catching the man just before he hit the ground.

"Wormtail!" Draco said, then yelped in pain as he apparently put weight on his injured leg. The man in question had transformed into a rat and slipped away as Remus was saving Severus from injury.

"Draco!" Hermione gasped, lunging to her boyfriend's side to support him. He clung to her shoulders as he panted with the pain.

"Moon!" Remus reminded himself as the painful transformation took him over. It was later in the evening than he'd expected, and the sun was just starting to go down. He was glad he'd taken his potion, but he knew he wasn't going to be of much use with paws. He tossed his and Severus's wands toward Harry and Neville just before his hands changed shape.

"Oh, Merlin," Harry and Neville sighed together, then exchanged a look and laughed. Remus cringed inwardly as Severus hit the ground after all.

"Wait, did Sirius say Dementors?" Neville said, looking very concerned.

Remus nodded his wolf head as he trotted over to his friend, nudging Padfoot's canine form. The Grim was shaking in place, and Remus could feel the coldness seeping into his body as well. He yipped to get the boys' attention back. He pointed as well as he could to them, then to Severus.

"How can he help us?" Harry asked, not looking as sharp or cheerful as he normally did. "He's asleep!"

"Stunned," Neville corrected.

Draco groaned as he pulled his wand out clumsily with his off hand. "Ennerv-ow!"

Hermione adjusted her grip on him and pulled out her own wand in one smooth movement. "Ennervate!" she incanted towards the professor, but he didn't move. "Isn't that right?"

Remus nodded emphatically, then used his paw to make three marks in the dirt in front of him.

"We hit him with three Stunners." Neville sounded a bit awed at their actions still. "Ennervate! Ennervate!" Severus finally started to stir as the Dementors came into view.

"Maybe more," Harry said faintly, and Remus went to the boy as he sank to his knees. "With the Dementors ... maybe we can't ... cast as well."

Remus pressed his furry side into Harry to help support him, nodding again.

"Er, okay. Ennervate!"

"Ennervate!" Hermione added. "Oh, thank Merlin, Professor! There are Dementors.... Neville, give him his wand!"

Remus nudged Severus's wand out of Harry's hand with his nose even as the man looked confused at having Remus's wand tossed at him by the young Hufflepuff. He yipped, and Severus recoiled strongly before visibly steeling himself and coming cautiously closer to retrieve his own wand.

"Swear to Merlin I will cast an Unforgiveable on you if you haven't had your potion, wolf," he threatened as he reached for his wand at the greatest distance possible. Remus tried to roll his eyes but wasn't certain if it came across the same in wolf form. He was pretty sure his cuddling up to a teenager and not eating anyone was proof enough that he was dosed sufficiently, and they really had bigger things to worry about. He stared at Severus, then flicked his eyes at the incoming Dementors, repeating the move several times before the other professor seemed to catch on. "Draco, Minor Head Granger, Scion Longbottom, get behind me. Expecto Patronum!"

The silvery mist made the Dementors hesitate, but it fizzled out quickly. Draco whimpered and hid his face in his girlfriend's neck. Remus felt another furry body press against him, and he shifted so Padfoot was snuggled into his godson as well. He turned his attention back to Severus only to find the man's eyes closed, an expression of deep concentration on his face.

"Expecto Patronum!" Severus said again, and the silvery shield held in front of himself and the three teenagers behind him. "Dammit, Black, get off your puppy arse and help me!"

Padfoot whimpered pathetically as one of the Dementors flew closer to their smaller but unprotected group. Remus snarled at it, but it refocused on Harry, the only human. The boy wound his fingers into Padfoot's fur and started to cry.

"Don't you give a shit about Potter?" Severus growled, then had to hastily recast his shield as it faltered. "About Lily's boy?"

Remus watched in amazement as Severus's shield finally coalesced into a solid shape - a doe. Lily's boy, and then the Patronus solidified into a doe. Oh, Severus.

"Expecto Patronum!" Sirius finally said, a man curled up practically in Harry's lap where a dog had been. Not even a mist came out, and Harry gasped in agony before collapsing bonelessly backwards onto the grass. "Goddamnit, no! Expecto Patronum! You took twelve years from me, but you won't take him! Expecto bloody Patronum!" An enormous silvery stag leapt from Sirius's wand, even stronger than Remus's own Patronus. The stag wheeled around sharply and charged the Dementor even now leaning in to Harry's face, throwing it off without hesitation. Sirius directed his Patronus over and over into the hoard of Dementors surrounding the group, protecting Harry and his friends. After a moment of the pressure being relieve from Severus, the doe joined the stag in patrolling the group, and Severus and the other teenagers moved closer to Harry, who was still unconscious. Remus was pleased they had remembered that a smaller space was easier to protect with the Patronus charm.

"Expecto Patronum!" he heard from several voices he didn't quite recognize, though some seemed familiar. A badger, small dog, and lion joined the two deer, and the Dementors fell back away from the group as four people rushed closer. "Professor? _Black?_ "

"Let's not worry about the formalities until the kids are safe," Sirius grunted, directing his stag Patronus at a Dementor trying to sneak in closer to Harry.

"Formalities? You're a mass murderer!" Remus noticed that Minister Fudge was the only one of the new arrivals not directing a Patronus in their defense. For being a former Ravenclaw, the man didn't seem to be very intelligent or at least able to apply it against Dementors or in politics.

Draco snorted. "And these Dementors are completely harmless," he countered.

"He's actually not a bad guy," Hermione added, and Remus found himself rolling his wolf eyes again. Why couldn't the teenagers - or Sirius himself - just refute the murder charge? Severus had been Stunned the whole time, but the rest of them were just not thinking.

"By all means, arrest him now," Severus drawled sarcastically. "That stag of his just saved Harry Potter's life. I'm sure the story would play well in the Daily Prophet."

"Yes, well...." Minister Fudge blustered wordlessly for a long moment. "Let's all return to the castle with these charms intact, shall we? I'm sure we can grant some measure of clemency to the man who saved Harry Potter."

Remus was not convinced that the walk back to the castle not including chains for Sirius wasn't the only leniency the minister was prepared to offer, but it was at least a start. As they started to walk, he yipped loudly, then nosed Harry's still unconscious form. Fudge looked at them with distaste. "What is it, werewolf?"

"Mobilicorpus," Neville answered, lifting Harry's body with the spell and directing him toward the castle. "Minister Fudge, I'm afraid I'm not very good with this spell. I may require your assistance before long."

"I'm certain you can manage until we're close enough for one of my Aurors to release their Patronus and take over the task, my boy."

Remus wasn't actually sure he had any respect left for the man after that.

* * *

Harry frowned as he looked at his friends. Hermione was not going to like his plan in the slightest, and he doubted Neville would be too keen on it either. Hermione pulled the chain of her Time Turner from around their necks - and really, he was going to kill her for not giving them more than thirty seconds to decide if its risks were worth using it - and tucked it back into her robes. At least she’d kept on wearing it as Draco had suggested.

"I think I know how we can capture Wormtail," she said slowly. “After he stuns us, you said he takes off into the woods? If a couple of us lie in wait, we can force him to transform back and stun him when we tie him up this time. But I don't think that will save Sirius in time. He still has the order for a Dementor’s Kiss on sight, Harry."

"It won’t stop the Dementors, but Wormtail will be useful to have on hand when it’s time to prove his guilt and Sirius’s innocence. We have to get Sirius away from the Dementors at the same time, which means we wait for him to be up in the tower. I know how to rescue him from there, but it’s going to take two people flying."

Neville sighed. “Draco just had to go and break his leg. Honor bound to return a Weasley pet, yeah right," he muttered. “I bet Ron wouldn’t have done the same for Draco, Generational Truce or not. Anyway, the way I see it, we have about two hours to practice whatever stunt you have in mind. Do you think you can get me up to scratch in that time? If not, I'll help you convince a Quidditch player to help, and that way I can help Hermione catch Wormtail."

Harry grinned at the other boy. "Neville, you're brilliant. Who would help?"

"House Diggory owes House Potter a minor favor. I don't know if Cedric would consider this minor, but he's great on a broom. Um, the Weasley twins would definitely do it, but they're not likely to keep it subtle or secret."

"Actually, they would," Harry interrupted. "They don't know it yet, but Sirius is one of their heroes. Anyone else, though?"

Neville shrugged. "House Longbottom holds a Life Debt over House Bones, but Susan isn't much better than I am on a broom."

"Hermione, can you and Neville do your Wormtail plan alone, or would you like a Weasley?"

She looked thoughtful for a long minute. "It certainly wouldn't hurt to have an older student helping, if you're sure you'll be safe with just one of them. Honestly, Harry, getting someone out of a window onto a broom? Are you planning on him doubling up with one of you?"

"He'll have to get away fast, and we can't be gone long. We’ll fly up to his window, open it from the outside, undo any chains or anything he might have, and then help him out the window onto the third broom we’ll have with us. I'm giving him my Firebolt to fly away from the castle more quickly."

"Wow," Neville whispered. "Harry, that's-"

"He's proper family. Besides, he did save my life. There's a fresh scar of his Animagus form over my heart."

"Your heart?" Hermione's expression went utterly mushy as she looked at Harry. "That's-"

"Yeah. Anyway. Hermione, I need you to break into Remus's office, but make sure Mr. Snape has already been and gone. He said the Marauders' Map was still open on the desk. We'll need it to not get caught messing around in time."

His friend's expression went back towards normal, but it was still very girly and sentimental even as she nodded at him and rushed away to do her task.

"Let's go catch some Weasleys," Harry said to Neville, and they grinned at each other, ready to exercise their common room rights as Gryffindor heirs for the first time.

* * *

_Hi Harry!_

_Thanks to you and your friends, I have an official hearing tomorrow to clear my name. I don't know if you read the Daily Prophet or not, but they had Pettigrew's trial recently. Of course, he's been found guilty. He was sentenced to have his wand snapped and to serve 27 years in Azkaban. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, I tell you._

_My trial is really going to be about what they owe me for locking me away and what I owe them for escaping. I'm not sure exactly how that will turn out, but I expect I'll be slightly richer this time tomorrow, not to mention a legally free man._

_I know we didn't have much time to catch up at Hogwarts, but I remember you saying you spent the summers with your Muggle aunt and uncle and the Malfoy family. I'd like to see you once I'm free and talk about you moving in with me - you don't have to say yes or no now, just think about it, okay? I'll answer whatever questions you have when we can meet up. How about an ice cream in Diagon Alley for the first meeting? We can figure out the rest of the summer from there._

_Let me know when you're free. Something tells me this beautiful owl is yours - she just showed up at my window and is sitting on the top of this parchment now. Send her back with some times you can meet me once you know._

_Take care,_

_Sirius_

* * *

_Sirius,_

_Congratulations on becoming a free man! (I decided to wait on the news to be able to say that officially.) I'm staying with the Malfoys right now. We'll be at Fortescue's (or Quality Quidditch Supplies, or Flourish and Blotts) all afternoon - come celebrate!_

_See you soon!_

_Harry_

* * *

_Harry,_

_Merlin, I still can't believe you're so close with the Malfoy family. I can't believe Lord Malfoy was so polite to me, either. I'm sure you know he and I weren't exactly allies in the last war. I think I should tell you that he and I talked a bit while you and Scion Malfoy were looking at brooms (by the way, I forgot to give you your Firebolt back, but I'll try to bring it next time I see you). He gave me a Wizard's Formal Oath on his magic that he did not intend you harm and that he would do his best to prevent any harm coming to you while you're under his care. I know you're Slytherin enough to understand the exact limitations of that. I never thought I'd be this glad to see my godson in Slytherin! At least they're not all evil gits like they were when I was there._

_I had another thought about you visiting, though. What if Scion Malfoy came with you? Lord and Lady Malfoy could escort you over and see if they think the place is safe enough. Like I said, there's still a lot of work to do here. I'm trying to find some house elves for rent to get it done faster. Kreacher is off his bloody rocker and absolutely no help. Once I get it cleaned up, though. Lady Malfoy is my cousin Narcissa. She spent some time at Grimmauld Place growing up. Maybe she would feel better knowing you (and Draco) were coming to a house she knows?_

_Think about it, at least._

_Sirius_

* * *

_Sirius,_

_Aunt Narcissa says to tell you her house elves have been told to answer your call and obey you in cleaning Grimmauld Place, though she's asked them not to throw anything away in the hopes that you'll let her look through things to see if she wants any of it. (They won't steal from you, of course. They'll just put all the things you don't want somewhere else. They're very literal elves, though. You should probably have them separate dust and actual trash from things she might want that you don't. Wouldn't want heirloom goblets full of dirt!)_

_I think if you formally invite the Malfoys and myself over for dinner once the place is cleaned up, we'll be able to talk about a longer visit. I can't promise anything more than that now, though._

_We're going to the Quidditch World Cup this summer. Are you? Uncle Lucius hinted that he and I could get you a Top Box ticket with us if you like. I can't wait to see Scion Krum play! Oh, I forgot to ask Draco about that. Do you know if I should refer to him as Scion Krum or Seeker Krum or anything special like that? I'm not sure of the etiquette for him. Is it different with him being from Bulgaria? I really need to look up foreign formal manners!_

_Draco says you can call him informally in letters to me but he'll decide about to his face when we see you again._

_Harry_

* * *

_Harry,_

_Somehow I'd forgotten that you were so interested in the forms. I'm enclosing two books that should help you figure it out. Merlin knows I don't know. Not to get into my sordid family history, but I never got that far in my learning. Foreign manners aren't taught until you're 16 unless you need them earlier or ask about it, and I never did. I feel a bit rusty even in the basic forms. I need to get used to it, though. I have an appointment at Gringotts and then at the Ministry at the end of the summer to formally take up the Lordship and Headship of House Black. Before you ask, yes, Lord Malfoy was calling me Head Black, but that was really a courtesy to recognize my status. I think because I'm family through Narcissa and through you, he was respecting the status I will have instead of focusing on the fact that I don't currently have it because of my island vacation._

_Back to the fun stuff! Minister Fudge gave me three Top Box tickets. I was going to invite you and Draco, but if you're coming with them, I guess not. Do you have a friend or two who might want to come watch with you? I was thinking of inviting Remus if you only had one, but he would understand if you wanted to bring two friends your age._

_Sirius_

* * *

_Sirius,_

_My other two close friends aren't that big on Quidditch, though I can ask Neville Longbottom if he'd like to come. (Since Britain is hosting, he might be interested in the World Cup without being Quidditch-mad like us.) The Weasley twins tell me that their whole family got Top Box tickets, and they're the only other ones I'd say - have you been writing to them at all this summer? I'm sure they'll be excited to see you again. You'll have to make time at the World Cup to talk to them about pranks. Bring Remus!_

_I have more questions, and Draco says I should start asking you things. He says it's more appropriate for me to learn from my godfather (though he also said he was going to check all your answers to make sure I learn the right thing!) and that you should be brushing up on your manners and society forms, too. Anyway, Life Debts. I know about general debts to a person or to a House, though I'm not really clear on how you know what's to a person or to a House or what debts get passed on to the next generation if they're not paid. Neville was talking about House Bones owing House Longbottom a Life Debt. How does that happen, how is it reckoned, how is it paid off? What makes it different from a regular debt?_

_Congratulations on taking up the Lordship and Headship! I guess that's why Draco wants you to brush up on society forms. I know I'm just your godson and not your real son, but you don't have a real son, so I feel like I should ask to be sure - does your Lordship or Headship affect me at all?_

_Hope the cleaning is going well!_

_Harry_

* * *

_Harry,_

_It took a couple of days, but Neville's grandmother agreed to let him come to the World Cup with us if he wants to. He doesn't know yet, so you ask him. Remus is coming, too. 34 days!_

_The house should be done by the end of the week, though most of the furnishings are gone. I was planning to invite the lot of you for tea on Monday, and if it goes well, maybe you and Narcissa (and Draco and Lord Malfoy if they're interested) could help me pick out some furniture (and arrange a room for you) before the two of you come and stay? Maybe you could even come stay for a week or so before the World Cup? Then if you want to go back to the Malfoys after the Cup, it's easy, but if you wanted to stay, you know I'd be very happy to have you. I don't want you to feel trapped, though, so being able to just go with them after the World Cup might be easier. What do you think?_

_Now for your harder questions. I don't think it will affect you directly in any way when I formally take on the Black titles. I know your father added me as an heir to the Potter family line, but it was contingent on me being Scion or Head of House Black, so I've sort of been in limbo there. That won't affect you except that I could act as Regent Head if you asked me to or if I sued the Wizengamot for the status, but I won't unless you want me to. As for your part in House Black? Nothing formal. I will be adding you as an heir to the Black family line, but I'll have to talk to the goblins and Ministry to see where that puts you. Draco is currently the only heir, and it's well established practice to have "an heir and a spare" as you may have heard, but I'm not sure how godson ranks against second cousin. I'll let you both know. In the meantime, I expect both of you to be familiar with the Black family tree, history, and practices like good little heirs. (Now that I've written it, I have a sad feeling you'll actually study it. Please don't. Have fun instead. Go flying. Pull a prank. Anything but study on your summer break.)_

_Life Debts are created when one person saves another person's life and are repaid by the saved person later saving the life of their original saviour. That's the shortest answer. Some Life Debts are owed to the House - saving the Head or Scion or pregnant Spouse-Head - and those are inherited from one Head to the next. Some Life Debts are owed by a House, though it's a lot foggier how those come to be. Owing a House Life Debt is also inherited by Heads until paid off or canceled one way or another. A Life Debt can be canceled by mutual agreement with a sum of money, slavery or arranged marriage, or cancelling a large number of general debts. Or if the House it's owed to dies out, or if the person it's owed to dies (if it isn't an inherited debt). All that is still a short answer. I think I have a couple books on the intricacies. I don't feel like writing it all out. When I find it, I'll owl it to you._

_Have some fun!_

_Sirius_

* * *

_Sirius,_

_Neville will come to the World Cup! If I'm staying with you before, he can come sleep over the night before. Regent Head Longbottom said she will owl you for details._

_Thanks for all the books. I promise I'm having fun, but I'm reading them, too._

_Uncle Lucius said he got your invitation and replied already. I can't wait to see your new and improved house!_

_Harry_

* * *

_Mr. Black,_

_Mother says that your house at Grimmauld Place has the most complete Black Family Histories. In light of being the only Heir to House Black at the present time (though Scion Potter has informed me of his upcoming heir-joining with House Black), I wish to make a full study of these histories if at all possible. I am able to visit Grimmauld Place to study the histories in their residence if you prefer them not to travel. Please reply at your convenience._

_I will await your owl, or you may be welcomed to discuss this subject in person during our upcoming tea together._

_Blessings of Morgana upon you,_

_Cousin Draco Malfoy  
Scion to House Malfoy, Heir to House Black_

* * *

_Cousin Draco,_

_I appreciate your interest in fulfilling your duties as Heir fully. Should the timing and atmosphere of our upcoming tea prove conducive, I will be pleased to show you the various histories in the Grimmauld Place library. While I prefer to only lend one Family History at a time and must restrict the books to Grimmauld Place, Malfoy Manor, or Hogwarts School, I am glad for you to study them at your leisure._

_Please feel welcomed to address me in a familial manner even after my assumption of the titles of House Black._

_With glad tidings and pleasant anticipation of our upcoming tea,_

_Cousin Sirius_

* * *

_Cousin Narcissa and Harry,_

_As we talked about at tea yesterday, I would like your help in selecting furnishings for those rooms in my house not yet filled. Would you be free to join me for a trip to Diagon Alley this week? Cousin Draco and Spouse-Cousin Lucius are welcome to join us if you and they wish. (Draco can choose things for one room that can be his to use during visits.)_

_Glad tidings,_

_Cousin Sirius_

* * *

_Sirius,_

_How about Thursday? We can meet at 10 to the north of the apparition point, if it suits you._

_Harry_

* * *

_Harry,_

_Sounds good!_

_Sirius_

* * *

_Cousin Sirius,_

_I will be joining you this Thursday if the invitation is still open, but Father does not wish to attend._

_Thank you for the loan of Cassiopeia Black's family history. I believe I will have finished it on Thursday, though Harry has yet to start it. If your library remains open, I would like to begin another family history once Harry finishes this one and returns it._

_Glad tidings,_

_Cousin Draco_

* * *

_Cousin Draco,_

_I apologize for the misunderstanding. You may have one family history at a time, and Harry may have one family history at a time. If he is reading the one you previously borrowed, it is now in his possession, and you are free to select another. If your mother allows it, you can come choose a new family history from the library after shopping on Thursday._

_I look forward to seeing you in Diagon Alley!_

_Cousin Sirius_

* * *

_Neville,_

_Hi, mate! I hope your summer is going well so far. Sorry I haven't written very often. I know we've talked in the Floo a couple of times, but that's no excuse for my lack of letters. I can't wait to see you for the Quidditch World Cup!_

_Draco and I are staying at Sirius's house Thursday and Friday nights this week. If your grandmother will let you and if you want to, you can come hang out with us during the day Friday or Saturday. We don't really have any plans yet, so if there's anything you want to do (or don't want to do), let us know!_

_Harry_

* * *

_Hermione,_

_Draco won't tell me anything from your letters. He says he's passing along my hellos and random comments, but I don't know if I can trust him! I know you would have said hello back, but he won't show me. (Okay, he's told me you have, but it's still funny to see him turn red and stutter when I ask to see your letters. You know I like the two of you being together, but I can't pass up the opportunity to watch Draco blush.)_

_I don't have anything to say that Draco won't have already said. I'm really just writing this to make him turn red again. I hope your summer is great so far! I'm sure I'll see you some time. Please remind Draco to tell me when, though._

_Harry_

* * *

"Pardon me, Minor Head Granger, but may I cut in?"

Hermione jerked out of Draco's arms and spun around. "Harry!" She flung herself at him for a hug and was surprised when he put his arms around her with only barely noticeable hesitation. "Neville!" She pulled away from Harry to hug their other friend.

"Hi, Hermione," Neville said when he pulled out of their hug, grinning at her. "Don't mind this weirdo."

She giggled as Harry stuck his tongue out at Neville. "Oh, I don't mind him. He's sort of cute, in a weird pet sort of way."

Harry rolled his eyes at her but mercifully refrained from poking fun at her half-Kneazle even though she'd set him up perfectly for it. "So how are things at the Manor?"

Hermione found herself reaching for Draco even as she answered. "Wonderful, as always. It's a bit weird without you there, though." Draco's arm slipped around her waist. "I mean, it's easier to get time alone, but instead of you annoying us, there are house elves popping up at every turn to make sure we're behaving like...."

"Like young Lords and Ladies should," Draco said in a near-perfect imitation of Dobby's voice. "Honestly, I'd rather have you watching."

"Ew. I'd rather not watch, if it's all the same to you."

Hermione turned to Neville with a fond smile on her face as Draco and Harry bickered good-naturedly like the almost-brothers they were. "How has your summer been, Neville? Anything interesting since the commotion at the World Cup?"

"Nothing much. I've visited Harry at his godfather's a couple times." The Hufflepuff glanced around the bookstore, looking almost nervous. "Look, about the World Cup commotion-"

"Are you concerned about being seen with Draco? That some might think he was a part of it?"

"No, Hermione, but-"

"No buts," she interrupted firmly. "I understand that a recently reinstated Auror by the name of Sirius Black can attest for the whereabouts of you and your friends in attendance during that time, including Draco Malfoy, if his word alone isn't good enough. If anyone says my boyfriend was somehow involved, I'll thank them to take it up with me or with Draco directly. You're more than welcome to tell them I said so if you need to."

"But you're staying at Malfoy Manor."

Hermione grinned. "At the invitation of Lord and Lady Malfoy. Look, Neville, we can talk about how much I like the Manor later, okay? Draco and I learned something really interesting the other day."

Draco and Harry stopped bickering and turned back to Hermione and Neville at this. "Has Uncle Lucius told you more than Sirius would tell me?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Doubtlessly," Draco returned. "What has Cousin Sirius told you?"

"Ah, my friend, I couldn't deprive you of the chance to share your information first."

Hermione rolled her eyes and interrupted the pair before they could get going on that. "He's been to visit Durmstrang and Headmaster Karkaroff to help finalize something to do with some Durmstrang students visiting Hogwarts for most of the year."

"Interesting!" Harry said, staring at her. "Sirius complained about having to do grunt work helping with the import of some rare and dangerous creatures to Hogwarts throughout the year. He also reckons he might have to spend some time at the castle doing security for some sort of event."

"Maybe we're feeding Karkaroff to a dragon," Draco suggested.

Hermione snorted but didn't bother to verbally express her disbelief at that.

"Multiple dragons," Harry corrected. "Well, multiple creatures. I don't know if they're dragons or not. And it sounds like this event is going to take place on at least two separate occasions. I doubt one man would feed even one dragon more than once."

"Fair point," Draco conceded. "Father also mentioned it's been two hundred years since this last happened, and I know someone's been eaten by a dragon more recently."

"Two hundred years since dangerous creatures visited Hogwarts? Not with Hagrid around!" Neville put in.

"Well, two hundred years since Durmstrang visited Hogwarts, at least. Maybe they're not related to the dragons."

Hermione squeezed Draco around the waist to get his attention. "You're just dead set on dragons, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "That's kind of my name."

"Anyway, the creatures and Durmstrang have to be related. Add in two hundred years, and we have more than enough to research. I'm sure we'll know exactly what's going on by the end of the week."

"Harry and I need to grab our assigned texts, anyway, so you two go ahead and get your research books," Neville offered, dragging a relieved-looking Harry across the store as he pulled out their booklists.

"I'm sure the library at the Manor can provide whatever you need," Draco suggested, pulling Hermione closer to him.

She stretched up to kiss him briefly, then pulled back. "Maybe, maybe not. I'd rather not need another trip to Diagon Alley. Come on."

* * *

"Harry Potter!"

He looked at Draco, then sighed and rose from his seat. "House Potter calls on each person present to bear witness to this event," he said formally, and each person raised in the old ways - and Hermione - stood and responded.

"Scion Draco Malfoy bears witness for House Potter," Draco said, the echoes of at least a hundred other students from three different schools saying roughly the same thing giving him an eerie backdrop next to Harry.

"Chief Mugwump Dumbledore, House Potter requests you attend in your official capacity. Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, House Potter requests you attend as a representative of Hogwarts School. Head Crouch, House Potter requests you attend as a representative of the British Ministry of Magic." Harry glanced at Draco.

"Headmaster Karkaroff, please attend as a representative of Durmstrang, who is also involved in this matter. Headmistress Maxime, please attend as a representative of Beauxbatons, who is also involved in this matter. Retired Master Auror Moody, please witness, report, and preside as a representative of the Auror Corps and Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"House Potter formally requests each invitation stated by Scion Malfoy," Harry added quickly when Draco nodded at him.

Dumbledore inclined his head at the people filling the Great Hall. "Very well, Minor Head Potter. How can the International Confederation of Wizards assist you today?"

"Chief Mugwump Dumbledore, House Potter finds that one of its own has been entered into a contract to which no consent was given by anyone authorized to consent on behalf of a minor member of House Potter. House Potter wishes to contest the participation of Minor Head Harry Potter in the Triwizard Tournament on the grounds of nonconsensual contractual..."

"Nonconsensual involvement in a contract by a third party," Draco murmured quietly.

"On the grounds of nonconsensual involvement in a contract by a third party," Harry repeated. "Retired Master Auror Moody, please verify the nonconsensual nature of this involvement in your capacity as representative of the Auror Corps."

Moody glanced around the room, looking even more nervous than usual. "Er, I don't think that's necessary, boy. We can take your word for it, can't we? Considering he called a formal court in the middle of the ceremony?"

"Now, Alastor, the proper procedures must be maintained," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Minor Head Potter, would you approach this table to allow Retired Master Auror Moody to verify your claim?"

Harry glanced at Draco, who stepped over the bench in answer. "I will approach with my companion and primary witness, Scion Draco Malfoy," he answered. "Potions Master Severus Snape is requested to attend closely as second witness to Master Auror Moody's spellwork."

"That's really not necessary," Moody said again, rising from his chair and stumping back from the head table. "In fact, I'm sure everyone here can reach an agreement without my input. I'll just-" He fell with a sudden thud as a flash of red spell light hit him.

"Chief Mugwump Albus Dumbledore calls on each person present to bear witness to this second event as well," the man in question said with a weary sigh, sliding his wand back up his sleeve. "Transfiguration Mistress McGonagall, please examine this man for signs of transfiguration. Charms Master Flitwick, for signs of charms and other spells. Potions Master Snape, please identify the substance in the flask."

There was an uproar from the people in the crowd, and Dumbledore raised his hands to quiet them.

"I believe this man's unwillingness to perform restricted Auror spells indicates that he is not who he claims to be. If I am incorrect, we will resume with the claim of House Potter, with House Dumbledore owing restitution to Master Auror Moody."

It was only Harry and Draco's proximity to the head table that allowed them to hear Professor Snape's comment to the headmaster. "Polyjuice."

"Professor Sinistra, please use my office to summon aurors."

The students were in an uproar again, and Dumbledore's raised hands did nothing to calm them. Harry groaned, pulled his wand, and fired off a clever charm he'd found that made a noise like a cannon. He spoke into the sudden quiet. "House Potter still has a claim that likely involves the impostor."

"Too right, Mr.- Minor Head Potter," Dumbledore said. "However, until the impostor is interrogated, we will not know his involvement in your case. When the aurors arrive, one of them can validate your claim of nonconsensual involvement, which will be enough to officially put the Triwizard Tournament on hold." There was some booing from the students, but most of them seemed too interested in the drama playing out before them to care about the competition just yet. "We will be certain to include questioning into his involvement in your entry in his interrogation after your claim is validated. Should it be found that he entered you and that he was not authorized to act on your behalf...." Dumbledore looked over to Head Crouch.

"I will consult the rules to find the appropriate path forward," Crouch replied to the unspoken question, "but it is clear that you cannot be forced to participate if you were not entered legally."

Draco nudged Harry with his elbow. "That's all that can happen until the aurors arrive and then probably for a few days at least."

"House Potter releases all participants from their involvement in this claim for the present time but places each person on notice until the claim is resolved." He smiled around the room. "Uh, thanks for your patience and help, everyone."

Draco rolled his eyes as they walked back to Slytherin's table. "What a lovely formal way to cap off that adventure," he said, practically oozing sarcasm.

* * *

It took almost a month, but the polyjuiced imposter was found to be Bartemius Crouch Jr., the son of the Triwizard Tournament judge and Head of Magical Games and Sports department in the Ministry, Head Crouch. He was reported as dying in Ministry custody, but most people looked on that as more than a bit suspicious, especially in Slytherin.

Crouch Jr., whom Harry firmly refused to acknowledge as a scion (an action that influenced the Slytherins and from there apparently the press as well), was found to have imprisoned the real Retired Master Auror Moody and entered Harry into the Tournament illegally. When the investigators had finally uncovered that, the Tournament was somehow ended before the Goblet of Fire was relit. It ended up choosing the same champions from each school and no extras, and the Tournament proceeded as expected, if a little late.

It was the weekend before the third and final task, and Diggory was in the lead with eighty-five points, Krum not too far behind, holding second place with eighty points. All the students knew at this point that it was a maze and that current standings didn't make a difference once all the champions were inside. Harry, Draco, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginny were all walking down the road for their last Hogsmeade visit when a voice caught them all by surprise.

"Potter, catch!"

Harry's hand shot out automatically to grab the object from the air. Draco gasped and grabbed Harry's shoulder at the same moment, dropping his girlfriend’s hand in the process, and the familiar hook-like feeling caught them both by the navel.

"You idiot!" Draco hissed quietly, whipping his wand out as soon as they landed in the creepy looking graveyard. "You can't grab every little thing out of the air like it's a Snitch!"

"It's what makes me a good Seeker," Harry said as he drew his own wand, pocketing the Chocolate Frog portkey. "Where do you-"

"Kill the spare!" a high voice interrupted, and Harry instinctively pushed Draco behind him.

"That's my son!"

Both boys instantly recognized that voice, and they stared as the familiar blond-haired man briefly tussled with another person before felling him with a surprising punch to the jaw. Harry and Draco rushed over, each firing a stunner at the fallen man just to be sure.

"Father!"

"Stay back!" Uncle Lucius shouted, turning his wand on a small bundle the boys hadn't noticed lying on the ground nearby. "Av- Av-"

The high voice laughed. "Lucius, Lucius, Lucius. Surely you remember that the Dark Mark won't allow you to wield your wand against me if I don't wish it? Proceed with the ritual, now, and I'll let your son live."

Lucius swayed on his feet, and Harry held Draco back from rushing to his father. "That's the Dark Lord!" he hissed in Draco's ear. "If you catch his attention, he'll kill you!"

"Of course, if you wish for young Draco to die, I can always use Barty for the ritual."

"Reducto!" Harry said quickly, wand pointing at the head of the person unconscious beside them, recognizing Crouch Jr. in the split second he had before the skull exploded.

"Very well, Potter. Imperio!"

Harry laughed aloud. "Surely your pet spy told you I can't be controlled by the Imperius Curse, Ridd- Uncle Lucius!"

The man picked up some sort of deformed baby from the cloth bundle on the ground and carried him over to a cauldron Harry hadn't noticed before. The potion inside made an odd gurgling sound instead of a splash as the small body fell in. Lucius raised his wand, and the ground beside the cauldron split open to allow a fine cloud of dust into the air.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son," Lucius said in the monotone voice of someone desperately fighting against the Imperius Curse.

"Harry, I know this ritual," Draco said quickly. "You can mess it up and really cripple the Dark Lord, but you have to decide now."

"How?" Harry asked, just as quickly. There was a flash of silver, and Lucius's hand fell into the cauldron with the same gurgling sound as the Dark Lord's body.

"Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master," he said in the same monotonous voice.

"We can't change the bone of the father, but with Father under the Imperius, his flesh wasn't actually willingly given. You have to willingly sacrifice some of your blood to the Dark Lord. That's the only way to weaken him more."

Lucius stepped jerkily towards the boys, knife still in his hand. Draco sent a quick spell at his father's still-bleeding wrist, cauterizing the wound. "The potion calls for it to be forcibly taken," he told Harry, his voice high with fear.

Harry stepped forward, pulling up his sleeve, and approached the cauldron. He offered his hand to Lucius, who managed to flash a smile before the Imperius Curse regained its hold. The knife flicked in Harry's elbow, slicing a vein and collecting a stream of blood on the blade.

"I offer this blood with full knowledge of and consent to its use in reviving the Dark Lord," Harry said quickly, barely audible to his own ears, and the knife pulled away from the wound to splash the blood into the cauldron.

"Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe." Lucius's eyes cleared, and he jumped back, dropping the knife on the ground in front of them.

"Let's go," he said quickly to the boys, but Harry stood firm.

"We have to see this through."

Lucius shuddered. "He won't let us escape once he rises."

"Nobody will believe us if we don't see him come out of that cauldron."

Lucius's eyes flickered between the boys. "Draco, come. Harry, I'll be right back." Harry watched the two blonds apparate away with a small pop, then turned his attention back to the cauldron as it released a cloud of dark grey steam.

Lucius popped back in just as the Dark Lord stepped from the cauldron. Harry barely had time to take in the resurrected man's features before he felt himself squeezed into apparition, and he closed his eyes against the whirl of colors until they landed on a road that didn’t appear to be much different from the graveyard they were just in.

"You're okay!" Draco said, throwing himself bodily at Harry and wrapping the smaller boy in a tight hug.

"Well, my arm is still bleeding," he remarked, and Lucius's wandtip immediately found the wound and healed it. "Thanks, Uncle Lucius."

"Did you do it?"

Harry grinned at Draco. "I did. Thanks for the warning."

The blond boy sagged in Harry's arms. "Thank Merlin."

"We're not safe here," Lucius interrupted. "Botched potion or no, the Dark Lord is back, and he knows my double-apparition limits as well as I do."

Draco immediately stuck his right arm out, and a purple double-decker bus appeared in the woods in front of them.

"Draco-"

"Father, I'll not have you magically exhausting yourself apparating us across the country," the boy interrupted. "This counts as an emergency. Get aboard the Knight Bus, or I'll stun you and levitate you on."

Lucius drew himself up to his full height, pulled his robes about him as well as he could with his one remaining hand, and mounted the steps without looking at the conductor, who was staring at their whole party with his mouth hanging open.

"Hogwarts," Draco commanded as he followed his father on board. "We _will_ be your next stop."

"Yes sir, Scion Malfoy, sir!" the conductor managed. "Minor Head Potter!"

"Immediately," Harry added. "You'll avoid this part of the country for the rest of the day if you value your life, too."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Great, now you've made it sound like we were just involved in some sort of crime."

"Technically, we were, but I think being under the Imperius Curse for it relieves us of any culpability," Harry said, grabbing a nearby armchair for balance as the bus loudly shot back to a road somewhere else. There was another bang, and they were in front of the Hogwarts gates.

"Wait," Harry said, striding back to the door. "You'll be driving us up to the castle." He leaned out of the door. "Hogwarts, your heir requests emergency passage."

The gates swung open faster than he'd ever seen them move before, and he jumped back in the bus. "Go!" he snarled at the driver. "As quickly as you can!"

* * *

"House Potter will not stand for the slander of its Minor Head in a public forum, nor will it stand for the slander of its ally, House Malfoy," Harry announced to the crowd of reporters in front of him. He leaned on the podium provided. "The Dark Lord Voldemort, who is in fact a halfblood born Tom Riddle, has returned. He is severely weakened, but he still retains ties to immortality that have not yet been identified. His return has been proven to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement via Pensieve testimony and was also witnessed by Lord Malfoy and partially witnessed by Scion Malfoy. Each witness has been cleared of culpability in the return of this dangerous terrorist and has in fact been nominated for an Order of Merlin for their efforts in thwarting his return and causing him to be so weakened." He paused and surveyed the press and Ministry representatives. "My team of solicitors will not be kind to any person or creature subject to British magical rule found slandering any of the beforenamed people or their Houses.

"The Ministry of Magic has just announced the release of this Penseive evidence; any member of the press or public having reached their age of majority or possessing the title of Minor Head is now permitted to view this evidence. I invite those who view it to engage in informed and reasoned discourse on the topic and urge everyone to review defensive magics and add protections to their homes and businesses in light of this renewed threat to public safety. Thank you."

* * *

Lucius sighed and resisted the urge to rub his forehead. Albus Dumbledore always gave him a massive headache. "How many?"

The old man looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean, Lord Malfoy?"

"Well, Headmaster, you used the plural form of the word - Horcruxes instead of just Horcrux. How many do you believe the Dark Lord made?"

"I find that I'm not entirely sure at the moment."

"Then get sure!" Lord Black interjected. "This is Harry's life we're talking about!"

Harry leaned forward at that. "Okay, Sirius, I'm pretty sure I'm missing a piece of the puzzle here. I know the Dark Lord is going to come after me until he's dead, but you said that like there's some reason I can't just sit behind a Fidelius charm until he's dealt with. Spill."

"I'm afraid Sirius isn't at liberty to share that information, my boy."

"Minor Head Potter," Harry corrected instantly.

Dumbledore stared at him. "Pardon?"

"If we aren't to be working as equals in a matter that clearly involves me, you'll address me formally at all times," the boy clarified, and Lucius let the barest flicker of a smile show on his face.

"My b- Minor Head Potter, I'm afraid you misunderstand me." There was a pause, during which Lucius was certain the headmaster was doing some quick thinking. "Ah, I did not mean to imply that we would not be working together, though of course there are times at which we simply cannot be equals."

"I understand that for school business we must not present as equals."

Dumbledore nodded. "I simply meant to say that your godfather has taken some oaths as part of his membership in ... my organization-"

"Please, Headmaster, even the lowest of the Dark Lord's unmarked Death Eaters are aware of the Order of the Phoenix," Lucius interjected. "Regardless, surely you can share such a thing with me, as I have no intention of returning to the service of that ... creature ... and have even sworn an oath to Harry on the subject.” He was not above rubbing his familiar address with Harry in the old man's face right after Harry's move back to formal address with him.

Dumbledore inclined his head without answering Lucius. "Sirius is unable to reveal that information to anyone, Harry. Precious few are."

"Then you'll be telling me now?"

Lucius wanted to applaud his adoptive nephew on his masterful handling of the manipulative old man.

"I would be happy to share the information with you, my boy."

"Minor Head Potter, and it would save everyone some time if you told Uncle Lucius at the same time. In fact, you should invite Draco in from the stairway as well."

The boy in question pushed open the door to the Headmaster's office with a sharp glare on Harry. "Why'd you tell them I was there?"

"He'll no doubt drop at least one privacy ward," Harry replied as Draco perched on the arm of his chair. "At least, I hope he will."

There was a flicker on Dumbledore's face that showed the man had not thought of that, and Lucius didn't bother to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Dear Merlin, Headmaster, how many secrets have you given away to lurking students?" he asked rhetorically. "How about to the many paintings on this wall?"

"They are all required to hold the secrets of the headmaster."

"Even when he's not acting in his capacity as Headmaster?" Lord Black interjected, and he turned to the most recent Slytherin headmaster. "Former Lord and Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black, your Head of House charges you to reveal any secrets of Albus Dumbledore that you may."

The painting bowed, and Lucius almost swore he could feel the satisfaction it felt. "Certainly, My Lord Black," it answered. "How about the real reason for Alastor Moody's service to the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Enough!" Dumbledore yelped. "Phineas, please!"

"Are you able to share that secret?" Lord Black pressed.

"And many others," Former Headmaster Black confirmed.

Lucius turned back to Dumbledore as Lord Black thanked Former Headmaster Black for his help. "Your organization is full of leaks of which you were apparently unaware. I see no reason for you not to share every possible bit of information with Harry and those he chooses to help him stay protected."

"Lord Black, Lord Malfoy, Scion Malfoy, Minor Head Granger, and Scion Longbottom," Harry said promptly. "I also will not have myself, at minimum, bound by your secrecy oaths, so that I may bring in any additional help I deem necessary at any time."

The headmaster surely knew of the close friendship Harry held with each of the others, so it was wise to have them involved from the beginning. It would certainly keep the old man a bit more complacent when it came to trying to investigate who else Harry might bring in. However, Lucius knew that he still bore the Dark Mark and wouldn't be trusted so easily. "I consent to a secrecy oath, Headmaster Dumbledore, as long as it allows me to discuss anything with Harry and those he chooses to include."

"Your son will take the secrecy oath as well," Dumbledore countered, and Harry growled low in his throat.

"You would judge a man by the past actions of his father, since regretted and repented?" Harry asked pointedly, staring deep in the headmaster's eyes. "You would judge him based on his blood instead of his own actions? Sirius, were you also subject to this bias when you became a member of the Order?"

"Sirius was a member of Gryffindor."

Harry threw back his head and laughed. "As was Peter Pettigrew, Headmaster. Scion Malfoy has shown consistently over the past four years that he has overcome the biases of past generations of Malfoys. I know you are aware of the formal agreement ceasing the Malfoy/Weasley blood feud. I know you are aware that Scion Malfoy is courting the Muggleborn Minor Head Granger. I know you are aware that he has used his influence within Slytherin to smother obvious blood prejudice and support the non-Pureblood members of the house. In fact, I know that he is your only possible choice for Prefect, as First Son Nott, Scion Zabini, and I have all agreed to refuse the position if offered, and you would be laughed out of the school if you offered it to First Son Crabbe or First Son Goyle. Give me a reason related to Scion Malfoy's actions for him to take the secrecy oath, and I'll consent."

There was a long moment of silence, then Harry nodded decisively.

"Scion Malfoy, would you collect Minor Head Granger and Scion Longbottom?" he asked Draco. "Lord Malfoy, Lord Black, would you assist the headmaster in determining the correct privacy wards? Former Headmaster Black, would you assist me in keeping my secrets safe with the portraits in this room?"

Draco and Lord Black moved to do his bidding without argument, and Lucius watched Harry move to Former Headmaster Black's portrait to discuss his matter, intercepting Dumbledore as he tried to interrupt the two. "Headmaster, I believe we have some privacy wards to set."

* * *

Harry looked around his compartment on the train, discomfited by its emptiness. He knew his friends would return after the Prefect meeting, and he knew Draco was the right choice for Slytherin Prefect, but it was still odd. Four trunks and one person. He'd finished all his Head of House Potter business for the time being before coming to the station, his homework was done, and he couldn't think of a single game he could play alone to pass the time. He had just resigned himself to rereading the year's Runes textbook when a knock on the compartment door startled him from his thoughts.

"Want some company?"

He grinned at Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. "Merlin, yes."

"Luna said you'd be the only one of your friends not Prefect. I figured you for Slytherin over Mr. Malfoy, but it looks like she was right."

Harry shrugged, not wanting to get into the story of the Slytherin boys practically forcing the Headmaster's hand in choosing Draco for Prefect. "I've noticed that Luna tends to be right. I hope you didn't bet anything."

"Of course not! I've known her longer than you have, remember?"

"It's a shame," Luna put in. "I could have plenty of material wealth if more people would wager with me."

Harry snorted but didn't reply to that statement directly. "So who are the new Gryffindor Prefects? Your brother?"

Ginny grimaced. "Thankfully, no. His friend Dean Thomas, though maybe I should say his former friend. Ron hasn't spoken to him since he found out. I haven't heard which of the girls, though there are only two choices. Probably Parvati Patil, but I think that's a 'lesser of the two evils' sort of choice. So, Neville, Hermione, and Draco - do you know the other two?"

"Daphne Greengrass for Slytherin, but I haven't heard the other two."

"Would you like to hear from your friends?" Luna asked, and Harry grinned at her.

"Maybe we should surprise them with my knowledge."

The blond girl smiled at him. "Hannah Abbot for Hufflepuff. Anthony Goldstein took the badge for Ravenclaw, but he will return it and be replaced by Stephen Cornfoot in the spring."

"Are you a Seer?"

She shook her head without breaking eye contact with Harry. "I know the students in my house well enough to predict Anthony's actions as the studying for the OWLs picks up. Stephen is the only reasonable choice to take on an additional responsibility at that time, though Terry Boot would have been the second choice if Anthony had turned the badge down in the summer."

Harry nodded. "That makes sense."

"Ravenclaws," Ginny offered. "Did you want to play Exploding Snap or something until your friends came back?"

"That'd be great. Thanks, you two."

* * *

"Seven Horcruxes," Hermione said as they gathered in Lucius's study the day before Yule. "And Headmaster Dumbledore doesn't know what they are?"

"Rest assured he has some good guesses," Mr. Malfoy answered, sitting behind his desk. "The old coot simply doesn't think any of us have any business getting involved. Lord Black, has he said any more to the Order of the Phoenix?"

Mr. Black struggled to speak, then just nodded with a resigned look on his face. The rest of the group looked at the floor.

"Mr. Black, can you just not say it?" Hermione asked suddenly. "What about writing it down?"

"I can't write it down or act it out, either. I cannot actively give away the secrets of the Order." Mr. Black sighed. "I wish I hadn't joined the damn thing."

She grinned at him. "Are there any penalties for passively or accidentally giving away the secrets? Like if someone overheard you talking with Professor Lupin or maybe pulled it straight from your mind?"

He grinned back at her. "Hermione, you're a genius! And you can definitely call me Sirius. All of you." He hesitated, eyes clearly on Mr. Malfoy, then he nodded firmly. "Can any of you do Legilimency?"

Mr. Malfoy winced and started to reply in the negative, but Draco winked at his girlfriend and interrupted his father. "Lord Black, do you consent to the use of Legilimency on you by an uncertified person for the purpose of discovering information necessary to the defeat of the Dark Lord? Uncle Severus says I'm nearly at the level of a Master Legilimancer, but of course I can't be tested until my majority birthday."

"Snape rates you that highly?" Draco, Hermione, and Harry all nodded. "Alright, why not."

Hermione watched the process closely, though as always it wasn't possible to see anything but Sirius's changing facial expressions. Finally, Draco pulled out of the man's mind and nodded.

"Nice Animagus form," he offered as he sat back in his chair. "Father, Hermione, could one of you make notes? Dumbledore knows far more than he's let on to us."

"I couldn't even tell you that," Sirius said, sounding dejected, and Hermione watched Harry hug his godfather.

"You gave the information to Draco," Neville put in. "In the end, that's what matters. Besides, with your secrecy oath in place, you can keep going to the Order meetings and bringing us more information."

"It'd be easier if Dumbledore would just let us attend," Harry groused. "But no. He'll send a group of fifteen and sixteen year old kids to bring down an evil terrorist, but he won't give them any helpful information to do so. What is that man even playing at?"

Hermione shrugged, then turned in surprise as Mr. Malfoy said her name.

"Sir?"

"I believe you're better suited to recording the pertinent information," the man said as he indicated the parchment and quill on the side of his desk. He levitated a chair to sit in front of it, and Hermione went to it with a vague sense of shock.

Draco smiled at his girlfriend and father, then focused on the task at hand again. "Right, so it's actually seven soul pieces rather than seven Horcruxes, but before that, I think we should all hear the prophecy."

"We already did," Harry interrupted.

"We heard part of it," Draco corrected. "The full text is _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies, and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies._ "

"Atrocious sentence structure," Hermione said absently as she finished copying down the wording. "Also, why did the Dark Lord take over a year to act on the prophecy? If it was given before the person was born, why did he wait until Harry was so old to attack? Why not just kill the pregnant mother?" She looked up then, suddenly horrified at what she'd said. "Oh, Harry, I'm sorry! I don't mean - I just meant-"

"It's okay," he said shortly. "I was wondering the same thing, too."

Neville suddenly gasped. "That could have been me."

"What are the odds? Both of the possible candidates carrying the half-Headship of House Gryffindor?" Sirius mused.

"There could have been other possible children," Draco said.

"Unlikely," Lucius interjected. "Very few people lived through multiple direct encounters with the Dark Lord, and even fewer of those were married couples. Also, the Dark Lord holds the Headship of House Slytherin, though I don't believe he's ever formally claimed it. House Gryffindor is his natural enemy. He would target one of these two anyway, if not both of them."

Neville shuddered and sank deeper into his chair. "Are you saying I'm his target, too? Just because I hold half of Gryffindor?"

"Undoubtedly Harry comes first, but if he were successful there...." Mr. Malfoy trailed off as Sirius reached over to pat Neville on the shoulder. "However, we won't let it come to that. Not only do we intend for the Dark Lord to die long before Harry, but I do not believe anyone in this room would allow you to come to any harm. That does include myself, Scion Longbottom. House Malfoy will protect House Longbottom against the threat of the current Dark Lord as it can."

Neville offered Mr. Malfoy a shaky smile. "House Longbottom thanks you for your support, Lord Malfoy, and offers the same protection, conditional on the approval of Regent Head Augusta Longbottom. Scion Longbottom offers his personal protection regardless of the Regent Head's approval."

"That is very brave of you, Mr. Longbottom."

Neville chuckled, a sound that was full of bravery in the face of fear. "I beg to differ, Mr. Malfoy. That is very loyal of me to protect my friends and co-conspirators, and very brave of you to go against the Dark Lord you once served."

"Oi, Hufflepuff, knock it off," Sirius interjected. "The prophecy is an issue, but I think the Horcruxes are a bit more pressing, yeah?"

"Indeed," Draco agreed. "Seven soul pieces, Hermione?"

"Got it," she said, checking her notes. "I assume one of these pieces is sure to be in his current body?"

Draco nodded at her. "It has to be. Unfortunately, that's the only one we're aboslutely sure of, and it has to be the last piece destroyed, according to Dumbledore. I'd like to have that researched more thoroughly."

"Mr. Malfoy, I think we should both look through our libraries for any information on destroying Horcruxes," Sirius said, and Mr. Malfoy nodded. Hermione made a note that the two men would be researching that.

"Sirius seems sure that Dumbledore is holding back something about Harry and Horcruxes. The old man is insistent on Harry being involved in the destruction of the Horcruxes, but he won't say why."

"He told me just before we left school that when we return from break, he has one in his office he wants me to take care of," Harry said with a frown. "He also said it's one Uncle Lucius would recognize."

Mr. Malfoy groaned. "The diary. Oh, Merlin, I'm an idiot."

Draco frowned at his father. "Well, Hermione, mark down diary with a question mark and that Dumbledore has it. Hopefully we can cross it off soon as destroyed.

"He also suspects objects belonging to the founders of Hogwarts and to the Dark Lord's family would be used, but we don't know who that family is. Harry found out that his name is Tom M. Riddle, but what that M stands for or who his mother's side is we still don't know - unless Dumbledore is holding out on us again. There's nothing in our genealogies to suggest that Riddle is a wizarding name."

"I'll check my genealogies, too," Sirius offered. "I doubt I'll find anything, but double-checking never hurt."

"I will as well," Neville offered. "Longbottom Library doesn't have a lot of books on Dark things, but we do have genealogy."

Hermione held up a finger as she finished writing what they had so far, then nodded for Draco to continue.

"He suspects Nagini - that's the Dark Lord's serpent - but also isn't sure if the Dark Lord has had enough power to create the last Horcrux since we botched his revival," Draco said, looking quite proud of his father and adoptive brother. "So that also means we might only be looking for five Horcruxes, in addition to the soul piece in the Dark Lord's body."

"I agree that if he has created a Horcrux since his return, it would be in that horrid snake," Lucius offered. "He was quite fond of her before his rebirth, and I've heard that he hasn't allowed her to leave his side."

Sirius made a curious noise. "You still hear things about him?"

Mr. Malfoy nodded with a faint smile. "Because of his weakness, some of the current Death Eaters are starting to think that my defection from his side might be the wise choice, though none of them would actively work to bring him down. Regardless, I have enough influence to get some information from them. I think they're hoping that Harry will rise as the new Dark Lord, though where they got that idea I will never understand."

"Despite being practically raised by you - and then by Sirius, too, once he was exonerated - since entering the wizarding world, I've managed to stay as Light as they come," Harry said lightly. "All evidence points to me reigning as a Light Lord, actually. Is that something that happens?"

"What do you think we called Dumbledore?"

Sirius's laugh sounded suspiciously like a bark to Hermione.

"Neville, can you look in your library for more information on things belonging to the founders?" Hermione asked, and he agreed.

"How about in your vaults or house for actual things that might have belonged to Gryffindor?" Harry added. "Actually, Sirius, do you reckon the goblins would let me look in the family vault if you came with me?"

"They should."

"I can check with some of the darker artifact stores to see if they have anything," Mr. Malfoy added.

"I'll see if I can find anything more about Tom Riddle's family," Hermione said, noting down everyone's volunteer work. "I've exhausted the Hogwarts library, but I can get to bookstores on break.

"So that's Mr. Malfoy looking for information on Horcruxes in his library and checking with darker artifact stores for possible Horcruxes or information on founders' items. I assume Draco will be helping with that as well as sorting through the rest of the memories he got from Sirius to see if he can find any subtext Sirius missed. Harry is looking into accessing his family vaults for founder objects and dealing with the diary that Dumbledore has. Sirius is helping Harry with his vault, double checking for a wizarding Riddle family, and looking for information on Horcruxes in his library. Neville is looking into information on the founders and genealogy. Finally, I'm looking into other sources for genealogy - I can look for a Tom Riddle in the muggle world, too - and I'll pick up any books on things the founders owned while I'm out. Does that cover it?"

Harry nodded and smiled at her. "Great summary, Hermione. Thanks for taking notes."

"What about Nagini?" Sirius asked.

"We can't move on her until we're ready to move on the Dark Lord, Black," Mr. Malfoy said. "We don't even know if she's a Horcrux, but if she is, that would give him a chance to make a new Horcrux as well as tip him off to check his others."

"Fair enough," Sirius said. "I think we have enough to be getting on with, anyway. So, next meeting at the Easter break?"

Everyone nodded, and Hermione tapped her wand to the parchment to make each of them a copy, which she then spelled to only be readable by the people in the room. Anyone else looking at them would see only a Gringotts bank statement. Mr. Malfoy looked at her work approvingly, then added a few more charms to the rolls before passing them around with a flick of his wand. "Notice-Me-Not charms, resistance to destruction, and a mild compulsion charm to make other people not want to throw it out but instead return it to the owner."

"Slytherins," Sirius said with a mock grumble, but Hermione could see the smile on his face.

* * *

"How was your Yule, students?" Albus asked, risking the somewhat informal address with so many present.

"Quite well for all of us, Headmaster," Miss Granger replied before looking somewhat expectantly at the two boys to her left.

Harry Potter offered a quirky half-smile. "Very productive, I'd have to say," he added. "Then again, it's amazing what teamwork and open sharing of information can do for a dedicated group. On that note, I have some information that you may wish to share with the Order of the Phoenix - though perhaps you'd rather keep it a secret, knowing you."

Neville Longbottom lifted a rather plain looking brown cloth bag from the floor at his feet and placed it in the middle of Albus's desk, untying and loosening the drawstring. "It would be best not to touch any of these at the present time, Chief Mugwump Dumbledore."

"And what are these?" Albus asked, peering into the bag and using his wand to levitate the objects out one at a time.

"Horcruxes," the four students in front of him chorused.

The locket dropped out of Albus's magical control quite suddenly. "Horcruxes?" he repeatedly blankly. "You've got three Horcruxes sitting on my desk?"

"We'll be needing the Sword of Gryffindor to neutralize them, of course," Minor Head Potter informed him. "In fact, Draco will be taking care of the locket - he's the one who tracked it to your man Fletcher and bought it for an absolutely outrageous price. Hermione will be handling the diadem, after using all her Ravenclaw genius to find it. Neville is the one who tracked Riddle to the Gaunt family, so he has the honor of destroying the ring."

"Ah, but Harry, my boy-"

"Minor Head Potter," the four children corrected him, again in chorus. They exchanged an amused glance, and Albus sighed.

"Indeed. I offer my apologies for the informal address, Minor Head Potter."

"Continue."

Albus contained a wince at the subtle refusal of his apology. Things were not looking good for Harry's continued trust in his headmaster and intended mentor. "For reasons I'm afraid I cannot yet share, you must be the one to destroy these ... things."

"In that case, I must have misheard that you were the one to destroy the diary Horcrux. Regardless, you'll find that the prophecy does not indicate that in the slightest, Headmaster," Miss Granger - Minor Head Granger, he supposed he should call her - informed him, pulling a scroll from a ridiculously small bag attached to her wrist. Albus had thought it a charm bracelet and was now suspicious of the other charms attached; did she have seven brooms shrunk and attached? "The Dark Lord does not die when a Horcrux is destroyed; therefore, Harry is only responsible for the death blow to the body containing the master soul piece." She offered a perfectly transcribed prophecy to him, and he looked at each of them in turn, only to be met by steady gazes and solid Occlumency shields.

"How did you come to hear this prophecy? Surely you haven't been to the Department of Mysteries?"

Minor Head Potter frowned slightly. "Of course not, Headmaster, though I must ask why your people have not destroyed the orb rather than guarding a door, especially after what happened to Branch Head Weasley just recently."

Damn the boy, how did he know about that, too? "Arthur knew the risks," he replied mildly.

"Frankly, this is getting ridiculous," Scion Malfoy finally broke in as Minor Head Potter and Albus looked silently at each other. "We have eight soul pieces already found: one dealt with, three on your desk waiting to be taken care of, one in the Dark Lord's body, one in his snake, one in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, and one that I'm sure you've been trying to hide from Harry since we came to this school. Perhaps we can get on with the destroying business and be that much closer to ridding the world of this ... stain on wizardkind?"

"Eight? And what Horcrux do you believe you've uncovered in this school?"

"Well, I only retrieved Madame Ravenclaw's diadem last night, as it was in the school, but that's not what you were unsuccessfully hiding," Minor Head Granger said. "Headmaster, do not insult us."

"My scar," Minor Head Potter said flatly. "After the incident with Branch Head Weasley, Lords Malfoy and Black, with the help of Professor Snape, examined the scar, determined its true nature and effects on me, and set up what you might call mind warding to isolate it from my awareness. They continue to work together - yes, Headmaster, Lord Black is working quite seamlessly with Lord Malfoy and Professor Snape to achieve a common goal. They are all able to leave behind each other's past actions and beliefs in order to vanquish the Dark Lord and save my life. As I was saying, they continue to work toward a more permanent solution to that soul fragment."

"I'm afraid your options are few, my boy," Albus said with the sadness given full reign in his voice. For once, the children didn't correct his familiar address. "I've been unable to find any solution that did not also cause your...."

There was a short silence after he trailed off, broken by Scion Longbottom's laughter. "Oh, Headmaster. Did you ever ask the centaurs, goblins, or house elves? Did you consult any book now labeled dark? The issue is that we have several solutions. Our elder allies are meeting regularly with representatives of each of those races to compare the methods to choose the safest option for Harry. Now, can we return to the business of the three Horcruxes currently sitting in the middle of your desk, no doubt spreading their evil influence into this very conversation?"

While Albus wasn't overly fond of the Longbottom boy's laughter or phrasing, he did agree with the sentiment. "Very well. Minor Head Potter, I believe you can retrieve the sword?"

The boy reached out a hand, wordlessly and wandlessly summoning the Sorting Hat, and Albus forced himself not to show his surprise. As Minor Head Potter drew out the sword, the other three students looked at it in rapt attention.

"Goblin forged? That's the best way for it to retain the properties of the venom Harry said you coated it with."

"Yes, Scion Malfoy; commissioned by Godric Gryffindor, though its stay at the school remains contested by the goblins to this day."

"Of course it does. They don't do inheritance the same way wizards do, especially for objects forged for non-goblins. One of Gryffindor's greatest failings is that he failed to negotiate human inheritance in the price of the sword on commission."

Albus looked at the girl in surprise. "Is that so?"

"Rowena Ravenclaw advised him to do so, but he refused. Her journals recount the story, including him saying, 'Let my heirs figure it out!'"

"Well, Nev, looks like we get to clean up Grandpa Godric's interspecies mess," Minor Head Potter said with a laugh, offering the sword to his friend. "Perhaps returning it to them would be a worthy offering for them to consider aiding in the goblin soul-retrieval ritual."

Scion Longbottom adjusted his grip on the sword. "We should discuss it with Lucius, Severus, and Sirius, but as long as we have alternate ways to finish destroying the Horcruxes-"

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Albus interrupted. "It is the property of the school."

"You'll find that the school does not inherit an artifact bound to the blood of Gryffindor until released, Headmaster," Minor Head Granger replied. Albus was starting to believe that the young Ravenclaw knew more than even he did.

"It always returns to the Sorting Hat," he argued.

Minor Head Potter promptly donned the hat in question and appeared to engage in a quick conversation before pulling it off. "The Sorting Hat is no more than a conduit, tied to the magic of the sword. The sword can be summoned by any student in need - yes, any student, Headmaster, not just Gryffindors and heirs - from wherever it is stored. It would require a ward set up by those of Gryffindor's line along with several other powerful wizards, likely one or more needing to be of another founder's line, to prevent the sword from accessing the portal through the hat. There is no concern with the sword being returned to the goblins. In fact, the only concern would be in Hogwarts attempting to keep the sword past the immediate need that summoned it."

"We can include provisions in our contract with the goblins," Scion Malfoy put in. "Express permission from the Gryffindor Heads for a reasonable force to enter Hogwarts for repossession purposes, should the sword not be returned within a negotiated time frame."

"Excellent plan," Harry replied. "Hermione?"

The girl touched her wand to two of the charms on her bracelet, enlarging and releasing a long scroll of parchment and a self-inking quill. "Consider it on the list, Harry. Neville? Go ahead and take care of that ring so I can cross it off while I have the list out."

"As you wish."

All in all, the three children dispatched of their respective Horcruxes more quickly than Albus had managed the one diary a couple of months earlier. The images rose from the Horcruxes but were pierced and destroyed before they could fully coalesce; Minor Head Potter must have warned his friends about them. No doubt their apparent mastery of Occlumency helped as well. Before Albus knew it, Scion Granger was transfiguring a scabbard and placing it on Scion Longbottom's back, and the four students left Albus's office with the Sword of Gryffindor despite his remonstrations and pleas.

* * *

"Lord Black, the parchment scrap inside this jar contains the soul piece found in Bellatrix Black's vault."

Sirius bowed from the hips, legs and back held straight, to the goblin in front of him. "The House of Black and its allies admires the strength and friendship of the Goblin Nation in accomplishing this feat for wizards."

"The Goblin Nation admires the strength and friendship of the House of Black and its allies in sharing the information on the soul container and the unexpected integrity of the joint Heads of House Gryffindor in returning goblincraft to the Goblin Nation. I and my colleagues are sent of the Goblin Nation to offer advice and assistance in the performance of the Soul Particle Transference Ritual being applied to the Head of House Potter."

Sirius glanced behind him at his godson, who stepped forward to join him. "Ragnarok, Barkanio, Truthclaw, and Forehook of the Goblin Nation, you are welcomed to any aid during this ritual. Each of you is a worthy representative to the Goblin Nation in the eyes of House Potter; you bring honor to your descendants."

"Head Potter, you also bring honor to your descendants," Barkanio replied, bowing exactly as deeply as Harry and Sirius had.

"May we dispense with the formalities and lead to technicalities?" Harry offered hesitantly.

The four goblins exchanged a look. "Very well, Head Potter. We recommend this soul piece be destroyed first. Lord Black explained why two pieces must remain, but it is best to have as few pieces as possible still on this plane when you undergo the ritual."

Draco tapped Sirius on the shoulder, reaching into the Sorting Hat with his other hand. In a short moment, he was offering the sword to Sirius.

"I understand the need for the protocols in our agreement, Heads Gryffindor," Truthclaw said as Sirius took the container from Forehook.

"I understand the blade has been soaked in basilisk venom?" Ragnarok asked.

Harry nodded. "My basilisk friend Helga donated the venom."

The goblins stared for a brief moment before chattering in their own language. Sirius was no expert on reading goblin body language, but he was sure they were as surprised as he had been when he'd heard of his godson's surprisingly deadly serpentine friend.

"Apologies, allies," Forehook said suddenly. "It is rude for us to converse in a language we know you do not understand."

"Understandable, given the information you just learned," Harry replied with a shrug.

"Lord Black, we recommend destroying the vessel and parchment in one thrust of the sword. This is a particularly potent soul, and none here would appreciate its direct influence."

Sirius nodded as he lined up the sword and thrust it through the glass of the container and into the parchment. It seemed the Horcrux didn't have time to even sense a threat through the container; there were no images rising from it as Harry had cautioned before the thing let out a frankly inhuman scream. "Well, that was easy."

"More so than expected," Ragnarok agreed. "Shall we set up for the ritual?"

"My father and Uncle Severus have already set it up according to your instructions, but we welcome your corrections before the ritual begins." Draco showed the goblins into the prepared ritual chamber as Sirius gently laid the fabled sword on an end table. The goblins would be taking it back to the bank after the ritual was finished.

"Okay, Hermione?" he heard Harry ask, and the girl sighed as Sirius turned towards them.

"This is still kind of dangerous, Harry."

He shrugged. "I know, but it's definitely less dangerous than a Killing Curse to the head. It'll be okay. Even if something happens, I know you guys are going to finish the Dark Lord off for good. Are you ready?"

Hermione took a took breath, then nodded firmly. "Yes. We need to start in two minutes for it to work the best. Let's go get our own ritual robes on."

"Well, you, at least," Harry said with a grimace. He had to be almost totally naked during the ritual while everyone performing it - goblin and human alike - wore very intricately runed robes. All of the humans found the Rune work fascinating; the embroidery would protect them from possession by the soul fragment they were pulling out of Harry.

"Come on!" Sirius called from the doorway. "The rest of us are ready!"

Hermione slipped into the robe, and Harry slipped out of his clothing save his boxers. "Alright, we're ready now, too."

Barkanio helped Harry position himself precisely within the soul-restricting pentagram drawn on the floor before freezing him in place with a goblin spell the humans had not been permitted to learn. The goblin Ritual Master then helped place a team of two very precisely at each point of the pentagram - Lucius and Severus were at one foot, as the two humans most experienced with dark and borderline rituals; Sirius and Truthclaw at the other foot as the remaining adult human and the weakest goblin; Hermione and Ragnarok at Harry's left arm, a team of a very technical human and a very instinctual goblin to balance each other; Draco and Forehook at the right arm to mirror as a technical goblin with an instinctual human; and Barkanio, as Ritual Master, and Neville, as the human most similar to Harry and thus the strongest anchor for him, positioned at his head.

"Ready?"

The humans all raised their usual wands in their wand hands and a backup wand, fitted from the Malfoys' family stock, in their other hands. The goblins raised empty hands in the same fashion, and with a nod from Barkanio, they began to chant in Gobbledegook.

It had taken the humans almost a month of study and goblin tutoring to get the pronunciation and meaning of the chant solid; it was the first time it was performed by or on a non-goblin being. The chant went on for almost two minutes before Harry's scar split open, though it didn't bleed.

"Level Two!" Barkanio called out in Gobbldegook. The chant changed to a slightly different set of words at a much faster pace. Harry's scar started to steam.

"Level Three!" The chant was almost frantically fast now, and each of the participants had sweat streaming down their faces. The steam abruptly stopped, then a black mist flew out of Harry's scar and started to circle the borders of its enclosure.

"Level One!" The chant settled back to its original words and pace, and the spirit lunged at the sides of its magical cage, unable to break through.

"Contain and destroy teams, split in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... NOW!" Barkanio shouted, and the pairs at the points of the pentagram stepped apart. Ragnarok, Barkanio, Draco, Sirius, and Severus were to cast the destroying spell - the one spell the goblins did teach the humans - while the others maintained the containment for their protection. Unfortunately, as soon as the five destroyers dropped out of the containing chant, it weakened slightly and drew more energy from the five still holding it.

The spirit lunged at Barkanio, who cast the destroying spell at once. The spirit dodged it to lunge at Sirius. The man cast the destroying spell just as they'd practiced, but he stepped back in fear even as the spirit dodged away towards Ragnarok. Sirius froze as he heard a ripping sound.

"Dammit, Black!" Severus shouted, adding his own destroying spell to Ragnarok's efforts to try to keep the spirit from coming back to Sirius. "Tell me your runes are still intact!"

Sirius risked a glance down as the spirit went after Draco's position. "Snape!"

"You moron!" Severus cast the destroying spell again as the spirit charged him. "Did you really just destroy the only thing keeping you safe from possession?"

"Fuck!" Sirius cast the destroying spell twice in quick succession as the spirit dodged away from Barkanio and back towards him. "SNAPE!"

The spirit weaved around the destroying curses and bore down on Sirius. Severus narrowed his eyes and focused on it. The destroying spells the other three were casting moved too slowly to stop this, and though it was risky when casting into the middle of the circle ... Severus waited until the spirit was almost upon Sirius before swirling his wand as quickly as he could. "Avada Kedavra!"

Sirius heard a high-pitched scream as the green light flashed past his eyes, then everything was silent except for the fear-filled containment chant. "Keep going!" Barkanio ordered, and the five strengthened the containment. "Lord Black!"

"Merlin's bloody balls, Snape!" Sirius shouted. "Did you have to cast the _Killing Curse_ that close to me!"

Severus replayed the scene in his mind in slow motion. Sirius's eyes, full of terror; Sirius's wand, shaking even as he brought up to bear on the spirit; Sirius's mouth ... not opening near wide enough to have made that screaming sound. "Yes, I bloody well did, Black!" he shot back. "Swear on your life that you are not possessed!"

Sirius's eyes widened, but he hastened to do as he was bid. When he didn't drop dead, Severus cast a spell to detect rogue spirits within the containment chant. Before allowing the containment field to drop, he and Barkanio closely checked every other robe for tears in the runes and scanned each person for possession. Sirius scanned Harry as well, and everyone came up clean.

"Stop the chant," Barkanio ordered. "We should sweep the rest of the room just to be safe, but if the spirit did somehow dodge a Death Curse, the containment field isn't holding it any longer. I have every faith in the reinforced rune walls, though I believe Professor Snape has finished this portion of the Dark Lord's soul."

There was a tense silence as Barkanio and Severus scanned the room for spirits while Lucius and Hermione checked the runes on the walls for any record of the spirit passing through. The runes showed that they detected a spirit within the room that did not approach the walls or attempt escape; that was exactly what they would have expected with a successful ritual.

"Wake Head Potter," Barkanio ordered, and Neville instantly cast an Ennervate. Ragnarok canceled the goblin spell holding the boy in place, and he sat up.

"Who had the honor?" he asked confidently. "Sirius? Two in one day?"

Severus snorted. "The mutt nearly became our target, thanks to his clumsy feet."

Sirius glared for a moment before shrugging. "Snape's right, Harry. I would have been possessed if Snape hadn't caught the bastard with an AK about half an inch away from me."

Harry's eyes flew open wider than Severus thought would have been possible. "Shite! You're okay, though?" When Sirius nodded, Harry turned to his professor. "Thank you, Mr. Snape. House Potter recognizes a partial Life Debt for the rescue of the only named heir outside of the bloodline."

Severus blinked. "I discharge this debt conditional on the release of the partial Life Debt gained by James Potter."

"Granted." Harry frowned. "My dad saved your life?"

"After I set Snape up in the worst thought out prank of my life," Sirius replied. "Severus Snape, House Black recognizes a Life Debt for the rescue of the Head of House and offers a formal debt from the aforementioned incident resulting in your life being endangered."

Severus stared at Sirius for a long moment. "You keep helping knock out the Dark Lord and keep me out of Azkaban for my actions, and I'll discharge the debt. Don't expect me to jump into a life-threatening situation like a Gryffindor just to let you repay the Life Debt, though."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Sirius answered with a grin.

"Hey, Mr. Snape, since you denied the possibility of a House Snape and are not a member of any other House, would that debt be passed on to your kids?"

"Even if I were foolish enough to procreate, it would not."

"Timing, Harry!" Draco hissed. "We just destroyed probably the most difficult piece of the Dark Lord's soul! Can't we just celebrate instead of turning it into another society lesson?"

* * *

"Remus, do you have a minute?"

He set his grading to the side and beckoned the teenager at the door to enter his office. "For you, Harry, I have several minutes. Tea?"

"Er, yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

Remus summoned a school elf and asked for tea. In the few minutes before delivery he tried to engage Harry in some small talk about the recent Easter break, but the boy was clearly nervous about something and didn't have his heart in chatting.

"Look, it's...." Harry sighed, then reached for a cup of tea as the tray appeared on the desk. "I don't want you to feel like you've been left out, okay?"

Remus frowned. "Left out of what?"

Harry's thumbnail traced slowly over the pattern of his teacup. "It's not that we don't trust you, but ... well, we know how much this job means to you, and you don't really have the flexibility that the rest of us do. So we decided that instead of having to make you sad with the timing of things, we should just ... not bring you in right away. It sounds pretty bad saying it like that, I know."

"Bring me in what, Harry?"

The teenager stilled, then looked up at Remus. "We're killing the Dark Lord the next time he calls his Death Eaters."

Remus studied the face in front of him, shocked at the seriousness and maturity in it. "Who is we?"

Harry flushed suddenly, looking every inch 15 again. "Me, Draco, Hermione, Neville, Sirius, Mr. Snape, and Uncle Lucius."

Remus started to laugh, waving a hand at Harry's indignant face. "No, no, I believe you are, it's just ... you got Sirius working with Malfoys AND keeping a secret from me?"

"Keeping a secret from everybody," Harry corrected quietly, chewing on the same thumbnail that had been exploring his teacup just moments ago.

"Oh, I know, but for him to keep it from me! I can read that dog like a book." Remus froze suddenly. "Wait. How long have you been planning this?"

"You mean, how long has Sirius been keeping a huge secret from you?" At Remus's nod, Harry continued. "It's been just Easter break - one week ago since we finished the last thing and made our plan to take down the Dark Lord. Sirius has been in on the general plan since the beginning of the year."

"Let me guess - it was Christmas break when you made the specific plans and started carrying them out." At Harry's surprised look, Remus laughed again. "Your godfather hasn't seen me in person since the summer, and he stopped firecalling at Christmas. I thought maybe he was seeing someone and didn't want me to know about her yet. So if you're telling me now, do you need my help?"

Harry looked hesitant, and Remus did his best to school his face into neutrality. "Um, yes, but not ... well, we want you stay here when it happens. See, we'll be inviting Headmaster Dumbledore to join us - and I'm pretty sure he will - so with him and Mr. Snape and me all gone, the school could become a target if our part doesn't go as planned. Er, I don't mean to imply that I'm the best duellist in the school-"

"You are, actually," Remus interrupted. "The four top Defense students in the school are you and your closest friends, but if you've been training to take down the Dark Lord, that makes sense now."

"Then it's even more important. With us gone, and Mr. Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore, that leaves the school with over half its defenses gone. I mean, you'll still be in the wards, and there's you, Professor Flitwick - or should I say Forming Dueling Champion Flitwick? - and Professor McGonagall. From what I've read, the wards will revert to her automatically if something happens to the headmaster. The three of you would be the ones to look after the children if our attack fails or if the Dark Lord is able to react. He'd definitely send a force here.

"Our plan aims to take out the Death Eaters and at least contain the Dark Lord before he can send any forces to Hogwarts, but we can't guarantee we'll be fast enough. Even with all our training, we aren't perfect. We have to strike as soon as we can, though, before he notices ... the other things we've done. You're going to be the only one here who knows what's going on, so you'll have to make sure everyone's safe."

Remus nodded and sipped at his tea as he thought for a moment. "One small issue, Harry. How will I know when it's happening?"

Harry frowned. "I think Neville and I, or the headmaster, can initiate a lockdown of the castle when we leave it. From what I understand, the lockdown would automatically inform everyone in the castle that they're in lockdown. I don't know if we want to do that, though. Maybe we can set the wards so they'll lock down if they switch to Professor McGonagall? I'll have to ask Headmaster Dumbledore about that. If something happens to him, the school is almost definitely at risk. If not, he can still initiate lockdown from a distance. And if we do go into lockdown, the headmaster, Neville, and I can still get into the school when we come back even without lifting the lockdown, just in case that's something we need to do.

"But if we don't do lockdown, I'm not exactly sure how to let you know. Hermione's charmed some pendants for those of us going that will heat up when Mr. Snape activates his, the master pendant. I guess she could make you one, too? The only problem is that ours are all charmed to keep getting warmer until our Portkey activates. She said if we're not touching the Portkey when it activates, it will knock us unconscious, because the only reason any of us won't be coming along is possession, Imperius, or severe illness - all good reasons to be unconscious."

Remus frowned as he pondered the conundrum. "Can any of you cast a Patronus charm?"

"Hermione can, but the rest of us haven't really tried. How would that help?"

"There's a variant to the charm that allows the caster to send a message. It's not the most subtle of communiques, but it is effective. I'd like to try to teach it to all of you just in case, though Minor Head Granger will likely have the easiest time learning it. If you and they are interested, we can set up a time to work on that. Otherwise, I don't see why I couldn't use of the charmed pendants and simply remove it when I notice it heating."

Harry looked thoughtful, then nodded. "I will definitely learn it, and I'm sure the others will as well. One of us will arrange a time after we see who's interested and how our schedules look. I'll talk to Hermione about the pendant, too." He stood, but Remus spoke again before the teenager could leave his office.

"Is there anything in particular we should do once you leave? Also, it might be a good idea for me to be informed of the success or failure of your mission so we can prepare accordingly."

"Er. Hermione had some ideas, but I left the parchment in my dorm. How about we set up the meeting and discuss that before you teach us the charm?"

Remus chuckled at the boy's mishap with the parchment. It was a good reminder that he was, after all, still a teenage boy who could make teenage boy mistakes. "That sounds fine."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore gaped openly at the stream of students suddenly entering his office. "Thank you, Hogwarts!" Minor Head Potter gasped as a fire sprang up Albus's fireplace. "Floo powder?"

A pot popped into existence on the hearth, and Scion Longbottom grabbed a pinch as he practically jumped into the fireplace. "Malfoy Manor!"

Minor Head Granger was the next in the fireplace. "Malfoy Manor!"

"If you want to see the Dark Lord defeated, come with us," Scion Malfoy said as Minor Head Potter disappeared. "Now or never, Headmaster."

"Malfoy Manor!" Albus said as he stepped into the fireplace. Not a full second later, Scion Malfoy followed him out.

"Father. Lord Black?"

There was silence for a moment, then the fireplace flared to life again to let out Lord Black. "Everyone here? Good."

Lord Malfoy held out a long piece of rope. "Teams."

"Albus, back to back with us," Lord Black instructed abruptly, holding out a portion of the rope. "Stunners in every direction as soon as we land. Severus is shielded; don't worry about hitting him. Stun everything that moves."

"Downfall!" Lord Malfoy said as soon as everyone was teamed up back to back - Lord Malfoy and Lord Black against Albus's back in between two teams of teenagers, Potter/Longbottom and Granger/Malfoy. The Portkey activated, depositing them in a room. Albus didn't have time to take in his surroundings before the four teenagers all dropped to one knee, shooting silent stunners around as Lords Black and Malfoy fired from standing level. Albus shook himself and joined in a second later, not willing to be the weak link on the team he was aware didn't have to bring him along. At least they were sending nonlethal spells, and he could always revive Severus if the man weren't as strongly shielded as they thought.

Less than three seconds later, every Death Eater in the room except Severus was down. Albus summoned their wands as Lord Black levitated them into a corner and Lord Malfoy conjured ropes to bind them all. Severus sent another mass stunner over the group as the teenagers returned. "Doors secure, sir."

"The Dark Lord will revive soon," Severus replied. "Harry, stun him again but keep your distance. Albus, shield the teenagers. Black, shield me and Lucius. Nagini is in the chamber behind the throne. I have antivenom and a snake-specific shield, but Lucius, it would be best if you could take her out quickly."

"Stupefy!" Minor Head Potter said, and Albus flicked a shield up around his students as soon as the spell light passed the boundaries of his shield. It was a short moment before Voldemort started to stir again.

"He's draining magic through the Dark Marks," Minor Head Granger said confidently. "Harry, save your power. Headmaster, we'll need to cast again. 1, 2, 3!"

Albus dropped his shield for a brief moment, shocked when three perfectly synchronized stunners tore through the empty space. He re-established the shield immediately. "You've practiced this before?"

"Rotating which of the three of us was shielding," Scion Longbottom explained. "I'm grateful you're here, Hea--"

"Again!" Minor Head Granger interrupted. "1, 2, 3!"

Albus flickered his shield for a shorter time, and the perfectly timed stunners slipped through. "Your hard work is evident. I'm very proud of you all, and I'm sure Professor Lupin would be as well."

"We'll be having a talk about him soon," Minor Head Potter warned. "Shite, he must be draining them dry. Neville, go assist-"

"1, 2, 3!" Minor Head Granger interrupted again, and three stunners flew through the minuscule gap Albus flickered open in his shield. "Headmaster, I'd like to learn that shield technique."

"Harry, they're back," Scion Longbottom said.

"Shield them!"

Scion Longbottom dashed from the cover of Albus's shield, silently casting his own shield as soon as he was clear and expanding it over the three adults. "Status?"

"Nagini's out," Lord Black responded promptly, transferring Lord Malfoy to Scion Longbottom's shoulder and resettling Severus on his own shoulder. "These two say they're being magically drained."

"1, 2, 3!" Two stunners flew through the opening in the shield this time, and Albus snapped it shut as Voldemort continued to shift around despite the stunners, though he wasn't fully awake.

"Confirmed Horcrux destruction?" Neville pressed, maintaining the shield as he brought the adults to Albus's cover.

"Confirmed!"

Scion Malfoy shifted to take his father's weight and with a short nod took over shielding that group. Minor Head Granger joined them as well with one last stunner to Voldemort. "Go!"

Minor Head Potter glanced back at Albus. "If you can't read me and flicker your shield, I need Neville instead."

Albus nodded with a look at the boy in question. "Ready? Go." He brought his shield down just as Scion Longbottom brought a new one up, surrounding just the two boys. Albus shot the strongest stunner he could muster at Voldemort before joining the others and taking over shielding from Scion Malfoy.

"Hogwarts, your heirs requires assistance!" the two boys called in unison, and there was a tense moment before the Sword of Gryffindor appeared in Minor Head Potter's outstretched hand. Voldemort woke up at precisely this moment, and Minor Head Granger stopped Albus from cursing him.

"He has to be awake," she said. "Don't ask me why, but all the Arithmantic calculations say he has to be awake for this to work. You protect us. If we have to draw fire, the group splits. Sirius will shield as Draco and I cast."

"Reducto!" Minor Head Potter cast, and Albus couldn't even see the shield flickering out and back in as Scion Longbottom controlled it without any cues. "Reducto! Expelliarmus!" The boys moved as a single unit, edging closer to Voldemort as the man cast darker and darker curses at them. Scion Longbottom's shield was holding, but Albus could see the boy was starting to strain under the assault. "Reducto!"

They were close now, within an arm's length, and Voldemort grinned. "Cruci- AHH!" His wand arm was on the ground, blood dripping from the sword in Minor Head Potter's hand. "Episkey!"

Clearly the man still hadn't learned any healing magic, but the wandless spell was enough to slow the bleeding, even if it didn't completely stop. "Reducto!" he cast at the boys, the light shooting from his left palm. His power was definitely limited, but he was by no means defenseless.

"Harry, one!" Scion Longbottom said as the spell impacted his shield. He dropped to one knee and clutched his wand with both hands.

"Impedimenta! Impedimenta! Impedimenta!" The shield flickered visibly for each of the three spells, but it continued to hold. Voldemort was still moving, but he was noticeably slower now. "Neville, now! Impedimenta!"

Scion Longbottom's shield snapped back to only cover its caster, and Minor Head Potter charged forward with the Sword of Gryffindor raised high at the same moment.

"Bombarda Maxima!" Voldemort cast, clearly aiming for Scion Longbottom, and Albus extended his shield to the very limit of his ability to cover the boy and still keep a good power to protect them. The spell impacted hard enough to knock everyone in the shield over, and Albus swore as he felt his protection fall.

"Protego!" Lord Black shouted, and a shield came up around Albus, Severus, and Lord Malfoy.

"Protego!" Scion Malfoy was crouched over Scion Longbottom.

"Protego!" Minor Head Granger yanked Minor Head Potter back as the boy completed his strike with the sword, leaving the artifact buried to the hilt in Voldemort's chest.

“Magicae Non Exhaurire!" Severus and Lord Malfoy spoke in unison, sounded very weak and as though they didn't have enough magic left for this spell to prevent the continued drain. Albus wasn't sure they'd cast it soon enough.

The room exploded in light, and Albus found he wasn't the only one to look away as the walls shook. He could dimly see Minor Head Granger swinging Minor Head Potter around to protect him bodily.

When everything finally settled, Albus looked around the room. Everyone he'd come here with - and Severus - was moving around slowly, definitely sore or injured but alive. The Sword of Gryffindor was lying on the floor on top of a pile of robes, surrounded by a cloud of ash that was slowly settling.

"He's gone," Minor Head Potter said. "We did it!"

Magically exhausted as they all surely were, the team struggled to their feet to join Harry in front of the robes. "We did."

"It's done."

"He's gone."

"No more...."

"It's over!"

They grinned at each other before Scion Malfoy suddenly whooped and grabbed his girlfriend for an impromptu dance. "He's gone! He's gone! He's really, really gone!" She laughed and joined him in the odd step and song, and before Albus knew it, all eight of them were dancing. It was several minutes of pure celebration before Minor Head Granger pulled away to look at the hero of the hour.

"Er, Harry?"

The boy looked at his friend. "Yes, Hermione?"

"Please don't get upset, okay?"

"What happened?" His eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"It seems your magic thinks I saved your life." She pointed to the back of his left hand, where a book was scarred onto his skin.

Minor Head Potter sighed. "Okay, team, the next thing we research is how to stop my magic from marking me every time someone maybe saves my life! This is getting ridiculous!"

Severus smirked as he stepped forward to examine the latest scar. "I don't know, Potter. I'd like to have my mark on there before we stop it."

"Argh!"

**Author's Note:**

> Eventual heterosexual relationship mentioned but not detailed. Canon relationships between Malfoy adults mentioned but not detailed. Descriptions of magical battles. Death of Voldemort. No gore.


End file.
